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Improving Polymer Solar Cell Through Efficient Solar Energy Harvesting

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WOLEDs and Organic Photovoltaics

Part of the book series: Green Energy and Technology ((GREEN))

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Abstract

In the last few years, several effective approaches have been developed to improve polymer solar cell performance. In this chapter, we summarized several of the efforts conducted in UCLA on polymer solar cells, of which each is associated to efficient light harvesting. We first discussed effective approaches to improve morphology and nanoscale structure control on the polymer active layer through (a) solvent annealing and (b) mixed solvent approaches, in order to enhance the crystallinity of polymer for enhancing absorption, charge transport, and efficiency in the RR-P3HT:PCBM system. Interface engineering work has led to the demonstration of novel inverted solar cell structure, which might have advantages over conventional device structure in solution electrode, transparent solar cell, and/or tandem structure. The third section is focused on the newly developed low bandgap polymers, which show 5.6% solar cell efficiency – a significant improvement over the model RR-P3HT:PCBM solar cell. The results are good representative of the recent progress in the field of organic solar cell.

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Acknowledgments

We appreciate the financial support from the Office of Naval Research (Grant No. N00014-04-1-0434) and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (FA9550-07-1-0264). Solarmer Energy Inc. provided part of the research funding.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA

    Hsiang-Yu Chen & Yang Yang

  2. Solarmer Energy Inc, El Monte, CA, 91731, USA

    Zheng Xu & Gang Li

Authors
  1. Hsiang-Yu Chen
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  2. Zheng Xu
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  3. Gang Li
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  4. Yang Yang
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Gang Li or Yang Yang .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. Chemistry, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, Hong Kong/PR China

    Vivian W. W. Yam

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© 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Chen, HY., Xu, Z., Li, G., Yang, Y. (2010). Improving Polymer Solar Cell Through Efficient Solar Energy Harvesting. In: Yam, V. (eds) WOLEDs and Organic Photovoltaics. Green Energy and Technology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-14935-1_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-14935-1_8

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-14934-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-14935-1

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