Origin of Radiation‐Induced Degradation in Polymer Solar Cells

Polymer solar cells have been shown to degrade under X‐rays. Here, in situ polymer photovoltaic performance and recombination lifetimes are measured and it is found that charge accumulation is the primary reason for degradation of solar cells. This is affected by the mixing ratio of donor and acceptor in the bulk heterojunction. Both a quantitative understanding and the physical model of the degradation mechanism are presented. Understanding of the degradation mechanism is extended in polymer donor–acceptor bulk heterojunction systems to propose a material combination for making radiation hard diodes that can find important application in fields ranging from memory arrays to organic X‐ray detectors for medical imaging.

[1]  Gang Li,et al.  For the Bright Future—Bulk Heterojunction Polymer Solar Cells with Power Conversion Efficiency of 7.4% , 2010, Advanced materials.

[2]  C. Adachi,et al.  Evaluating Carrier Accumulation in Degraded Bulk Heterojunction Organic Solar Cells by a Thermally Stimulated Current Technique , 2009 .

[3]  Yang Yang,et al.  Hole mobility in optimized organic photovoltaic blend films obtained using extraction current transients , 2009 .

[4]  Olle Inganäs,et al.  On the origin of the open-circuit voltage of polymer-fullerene solar cells. , 2009, Nature materials.

[5]  Yang Yang,et al.  Polymer solar cells with enhanced open-circuit voltage and efficiency , 2009 .

[6]  David G. Lidzey,et al.  Detecting 6 MV X-rays using an organic photovoltaic device , 2009 .

[7]  Yang Yang,et al.  Dipole induced anomalous S-shape I-V curves in polymer solar cells , 2009 .

[8]  S. P. Tiwari,et al.  Determining ionizing radiation using sensors based on organic semiconducting material , 2009 .

[9]  Robert D. Speller,et al.  A polymer/fullerene based photodetector with extremely low dark current for x-ray medical imaging applications , 2008 .

[10]  Yang Yang,et al.  Radiation induced damage and recovery in poly(3-hexyl thiophene) based polymer solar cells , 2008, Nanotechnology.

[11]  Klaus Meerholz,et al.  Intensity-dependent photocurrent generation at the anode in bulk-heterojunction solar cells , 2008 .

[12]  J. C. de Mello,et al.  Experimental determination of the rate law for charge carrier decay in a polythiophene: Fullerene solar cell , 2008 .

[13]  A. Mette,et al.  A review and comparison of different methods to determine the series resistance of solar cells , 2007 .

[14]  Christoph J. Brabec,et al.  Physics of organic bulk heterojunction devices for photovoltaic applications , 2006 .

[15]  Christoph J. Brabec,et al.  Design Rules for Donors in Bulk‐Heterojunction Solar Cells—Towards 10 % Energy‐Conversion Efficiency , 2006 .

[16]  Valentin D. Mihailetchi,et al.  Origin of the light intensity dependence of the short-circuit current of polymer/fullerene solar cells , 2005 .

[17]  Yang Yang,et al.  High-efficiency solution processable polymer photovoltaic cells by self-organization of polymer blends , 2005 .

[18]  Christoph J. Brabec,et al.  Production Aspects of Organic Photovoltaics and Their Impact on the Commercialization of Devices , 2005 .

[19]  Ingo Riedel,et al.  Effect of Temperature and Illumination on the Electrical Characteristics of Polymer–Fullerene Bulk‐Heterojunction Solar Cells , 2004 .

[20]  Martin A. Green,et al.  A new method for accurate measurements of the lumped series resistance of solar cells , 1993, Conference Record of the Twenty Third IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference - 1993 (Cat. No.93CH3283-9).

[21]  D. B. Cotts,et al.  Electrically Conductive Organic Polymers for Advanced Applications , 1988 .

[22]  J. Davis,et al.  Effect of titanium, copper and iron on silicon solar cells , 1980 .

[23]  F. Williams,et al.  CHARACTERIZATION OF TRAPPED ELECTRONS IN $gamma$-IRRADIATED HYDROCARBON POLYMERS BY ELECTRON SPIN RESONANCE AND OPTICAL ABSORPTION SPECTROSCOPY. , 1969 .

[24]  Yu. N. Molin,et al.  On The Radiation Stability of Solid Organic Compounds , 1962 .

[25]  J. Fowler.  X-ray induced conductivity in insulating materials , 1956, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A. Mathematical and Physical Sciences.

[26]  F. T. Farmer,et al.  Effect of Temperature on the Conductivity induced in Insulators by X-Rays , 1953, Nature.