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Intrinsic non-radiative voltage losses in fullerene-based organic solar cells

Author

Listed:
  • Johannes Benduhn

    (Dresden Integrated Center for Applied Physics and Photonic Materials (IAPP) and Institute for Applied Physics, Technische Universität Dresden)

  • Kristofer Tvingstedt

    (Experimental Physics VI, Julius-Maximilian University of Würzburg)

  • Fortunato Piersimoni

    (Institute of Physics and Astronomy, University of Potsdam)

  • Sascha Ullbrich

    (Dresden Integrated Center for Applied Physics and Photonic Materials (IAPP) and Institute for Applied Physics, Technische Universität Dresden)

  • Yeli Fan

    (Center for Organic Photonics and Electronics and School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology
    † Present address: School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 211189, Jiangsu, China.)

  • Manuel Tropiano

    (Chemistry Research Laboratory, University of Oxford)

  • Kathryn A. McGarry

    (University of Minnesota)

  • Olaf Zeika

    (Dresden Integrated Center for Applied Physics and Photonic Materials (IAPP) and Institute for Applied Physics, Technische Universität Dresden)

  • Moritz K. Riede

    (University of Oxford)

  • Christopher J. Douglas

    (University of Minnesota)

  • Stephen Barlow

    (Center for Organic Photonics and Electronics and School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology)

  • Seth R. Marder

    (Center for Organic Photonics and Electronics and School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology)

  • Dieter Neher

    (Institute of Physics and Astronomy, University of Potsdam)

  • Donato Spoltore

    (Dresden Integrated Center for Applied Physics and Photonic Materials (IAPP) and Institute for Applied Physics, Technische Universität Dresden)

  • Koen Vandewal

    (Dresden Integrated Center for Applied Physics and Photonic Materials (IAPP) and Institute for Applied Physics, Technische Universität Dresden)

Abstract

Organic solar cells demonstrate external quantum efficiencies and fill factors approaching those of conventional photovoltaic technologies. However, as compared with the optical gap of the absorber materials, their open-circuit voltage is much lower, largely due to the presence of significant non-radiative recombination. Here, we study a large data set of published and new material combinations and find that non-radiative voltage losses decrease with increasing charge-transfer-state energies. This observation is explained by considering non-radiative charge-transfer-state decay as electron transfer in the Marcus inverted regime, being facilitated by a common skeletal molecular vibrational mode. Our results suggest an intrinsic link between non-radiative voltage losses and electron-vibration coupling, indicating that these losses are unavoidable. Accordingly, the theoretical upper limit for the power conversion efficiency of single-junction organic solar cells would be reduced to about 25.5% and the optimal optical gap increases to 1.45–1.65 eV, that is, 0.2–0.3 eV higher than for technologies with minimized non-radiative voltage losses.

Suggested Citation

  • Johannes Benduhn & Kristofer Tvingstedt & Fortunato Piersimoni & Sascha Ullbrich & Yeli Fan & Manuel Tropiano & Kathryn A. McGarry & Olaf Zeika & Moritz K. Riede & Christopher J. Douglas & Stephen Bar, 2017. "Intrinsic non-radiative voltage losses in fullerene-based organic solar cells," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 2(6), pages 1-6, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natene:v:2:y:2017:i:6:d:10.1038_nenergy.2017.53
    DOI: 10.1038/nenergy.2017.53
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    Cited by:

    1. Yuanyuan Jiang & Yixin Li & Feng Liu & Wenxuan Wang & Wenli Su & Wuyue Liu & Songjun Liu & Wenkai Zhang & Jianhui Hou & Shengjie Xu & Yuanping Yi & Xiaozhang Zhu, 2023. "Suppressing electron-phonon coupling in organic photovoltaics for high-efficiency power conversion," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-12, December.
    2. Zhenrong Jia & Qing Ma & Zeng Chen & Lei Meng & Nakul Jain & Indunil Angunawela & Shucheng Qin & Xiaolei Kong & Xiaojun Li & Yang (Michael) Yang & Haiming Zhu & Harald Ade & Feng Gao & Yongfang Li, 2023. "Near-infrared absorbing acceptor with suppressed triplet exciton generation enabling high performance tandem organic solar cells," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.
    3. Yafei Wang & Zhong Zheng & Jianqiu Wang & Pengqing Bi & Zhihao Chen & Junzhen Ren & Cunbin An & Shaoqing Zhang & Jianhui Hou, 2023. "Organic laser power converter for efficient wireless micro power transfer," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-8, December.
    4. Michael B. Price & Paul A. Hume & Aleksandra Ilina & Isabella Wagner & Ronnie R. Tamming & Karen E. Thorn & Wanting Jiao & Alison Goldingay & Patrick J. Conaghan & Girish Lakhwani & Nathaniel J. L. K., 2022. "Free charge photogeneration in a single component high photovoltaic efficiency organic semiconductor," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    5. Jing Wang & Xudong Jiang & Hongbo Wu & Guitao Feng & Hanyu Wu & Junyu Li & Yuanping Yi & Xunda Feng & Zaifei Ma & Weiwei Li & Koen Vandewal & Zheng Tang, 2021. "Increasing donor-acceptor spacing for reduced voltage loss in organic solar cells," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-9, December.
    6. Hongbo Wu & Hao Lu & Yungui Li & Xin Zhou & Guanqing Zhou & Hailin Pan & Hanyu Wu & Xunda Feng & Feng Liu & Koen Vandewal & Wolfgang Tress & Zaifei Ma & Zhishan Bo & Zheng Tang, 2024. "Decreasing exciton dissociation rates for reduced voltage losses in organic solar cells," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-11, December.
    7. Yanan Shi & Yilin Chang & Kun Lu & Zhihao Chen & Jianqi Zhang & Yangjun Yan & Dingding Qiu & Yanan Liu & Muhammad Abdullah Adil & Wei Ma & Xiaotao Hao & Lingyun Zhu & Zhixiang Wei, 2022. "Small reorganization energy acceptors enable low energy losses in non-fullerene organic solar cells," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    8. Anna Jungbluth & Eunkyung Cho & Alberto Privitera & Kaila M. Yallum & Pascal Kaienburg & Andreas E. Lauritzen & Thomas Derrien & Sameer V. Kesava & Irfan Habib & Saied Md Pratik & Natalie Banerji & Je, 2024. "Limiting factors for charge generation in low-offset fullerene-based organic solar cells," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-11, December.
    9. Baobing Fan & Wei Gao & Xuanhao Wu & Xinxin Xia & Yue Wu & Francis R. Lin & Qunping Fan & Xinhui Lu & Wen Jung Li & Wei Ma & Alex K.-Y. Jen, 2022. "Importance of structural hinderance in performance–stability equilibrium of organic photovoltaics," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-11, December.

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