Study on electrical and thermal behavior of organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells

Organic photovoltaic cells represent a major application of Flexible Organic and Large Area Electronics (FOLAE) field. The advantages of these cells are represented by flexibility and reduced thickness, making them easy to be integrated in electronics designs, removing the necessity of having a large, flat, heavy surface for energy harvesting. Although many studies about the structure1 and chemical reactions that occur exist, not a large amount of information is available about the characteristics that would be useful for an electronics engineer designing an electronic system. This paper presents the investigations of the electrical2 and thermal behavior of OPV cells, offering as results the optimal operating conditions and their evaluation using a comparison with the standard, semiconductor-based cells. Thermal characterization is very important because the targeted light source is the sun. By exposing the panels to sunlight in a summer day will greatly increase the working temperature of the cells, implying the necessity of knowing the impact on their electrical characteristics. The response of the cells at different wavelengths of the incident light, voltage vs. current and output voltage diagrams for different light intensities and different temperatures will be determined. In addition, the behavior of the cell as a light sensor will be investigated and a system that uses organic electronics at both ends: for sensing light intensity and also displaying this information will be built, using an electrochromic display.