The need to develop inexpensive renewable energy sources stimulates scientific research for efficient, low-cost photovoltaic devices.1 The organic, polymer-based photovoltaic elements have introduced at least the potential of obtaining cheap and easy methods to produce energy from light.2 The possibility of chemically manipulating the material properties of polymers (plastics) combined with a variety of easy and cheap processing techniques has made polymer-based materials present in almost every aspect of modern society.3 Organic semiconductors have several advantages: (a) lowcost synthesis, and (b) easy manufacture of thin film devices by vacuum evaporation/sublimation or solution cast or printing technologies. Furthermore, organic semiconductor thin films may show high absorption coefficients4 exceeding 105 cm-1, which makes them good chromophores for optoelectronic applications. The electronic band gap of organic semiconductors can be engineered by chemical synthesis for simple color changing of light emitting diodes (LEDs).5 Charge carrier mobilities as high as 10 cm2/V‚s6 made them competitive with amorphous silicon.7 This review is organized as follows. In the first part, we will give a general introduction to the materials, production techniques, working principles, critical parameters, and stability of the organic solar cells. In the second part, we will focus on conjugated polymer/fullerene bulk heterojunction solar cells, mainly on polyphenylenevinylene (PPV) derivatives/(1-(3-methoxycarbonyl) propyl-1-phenyl[6,6]C61) (PCBM) fullerene derivatives and poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT)/PCBM systems. In the third part, we will discuss the alternative approaches such as polymer/polymer solar cells and organic/inorganic hybrid solar cells. In the fourth part, we will suggest possible routes for further improvements and finish with some conclusions. The different papers mentioned in the text have been chosen for didactical purposes and cannot reflect the chronology of the research field nor have a claim of completeness. The further interested reader is referred to the vast amount of quality papers published in this field during the past decade.

Conjugated polymer-based organic solar cells

Organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) have lived to see great improvements in recent years. This review presents new insight into conduction mechanisms and performance characteristics, as well as opportunities for modeling properties of OTFTs. The shifted focus in research from novel chemical structures to fabrication technologies that optimize morphology and structural order is underscored by chapters on vacuum-deposited and solution-processed organic semiconducting films. Finally, progress in the growing field of the n-type OTFTs is discussed in ample detail. The Figure, showing a pentacene film edge on SiO2, illustrates the morphology issue.

Organic Thin Film Transistors for Large Area Electronics

Polydopamine and Its Derivative Materials: Synthesis and Promising Applications in Energy, Environmental, and Biomedical Fields

Solution-processed bulk-heterojunction solar cells have gained serious attention during the last few years and are becoming established as one of the future photovoltaic technologies for low-cost power production. This article reviews the highlights of the last few years, and summarizes today's state-of-the-art performance. An outlook is given on relevant future materials and technologies that have the potential to guide this young photovoltaic technology towards the magic 10% regime. A cost model supplements the technical discussions, with practical aspects any photovoltaic technology needs to fulfil, and answers to the question as to whether low module costs can compensate lower lifetimes and performances.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/adma.200801283

Polymer‐Fullerene Bulk‐Heterojunction Solar Cells

Organolead trihalide perovskites are shown to exhibit the best of both worlds: charge-carrier mobilities around 10 cm2 V−1 s−1 and low bi-molecular charge-recombination constants. The ratio of the two is found to defy the Langevin limit of kinetic charge capture by over four orders of magnitude. This mechanism causes long (micrometer) charge-pair diffusion lengths crucial for flat-heterojunction photovoltaics.

https://www.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/adma.201305172

High Charge Carrier Mobilities and Lifetimes in Organolead Trihalide Perovskites

Bimolecular charge carrier recombination has been clarified in bulk-heterojunction solar cells based on a blend of regioregular poly(3-hexylthiophene) and 1-(3-methoxycarbonyl)propyl-1-phenyl-[6,6]-methanofullerene using the time-of-flight method. We show how bimolecular recombination influences the charge carrier transport, how it limits the efficiency of low-mobility solar cells, and how to estimate the bimolecular recombination coefficient. We found that bimolecular recombination in these efficient photovoltaic materials is orders of magnitude slower as compared to Langevin recombination expected for low-mobility materials. This effect is inherent to the nanomorphology of the bicontinuous interpenetrating network creating separate pathways for electrons and holes, and paves the way for the fabrication of bulk-heterojunction solar cells where bimolecular recombination is not the limiting factor.

/pdf/bimolecular-recombination-coefficient-as-a-sensitive-testing-4zyy1ctx47.pdf

Bimolecular recombination coefficient as a sensitive testing parameter for low-mobility solar-cell materials.

Thin‐film field‐effect transistors (FETs) have been prepared using poly(3‐hexylthiophene)/ arachidic acid and quinquethiophene/arachidic acid Langmuir–Blodgett (LB) films with thicknesses ranging from a monolayer to some ten monolayers. The effect of the number of layers on the mobility and conductivity has been studied. This is to our knowledge the first demonstration of a LB FET utilizing organic semiconductors as the active material.

Molecular field‐effect transistors using conducting polymer Langmuir–Blodgett films

Langmuir—Blodgett light-emitting diodes of poly(3-hexylthiophene) : electro-optical characteristics related to structure

The transport properties, namely mobility, conductivity, and charge carrier concentration of three model polymers, regioregular poly(3-hexylthiophene) (RRPHT), poly(p-phenylene vinylene) (PPV), and a polyazomethine (PAM) are investigated by charge extraction in a linearly increasing voltage. We have numerically modeled the charge carrier transients including a Gaussian distribution of localized states and the typical Poole-Frenkel-type field-dependent mobility observed in these materials, and good agreement with measured values is obtained. From our calculation we can determine the reason for the field-dependent mobility, and we found that the field-dependent release time from the localized states, ${\ensuremath{\tau}}_{R}$ is very important in RRPHT and PPV, while PAM is governed by stochastic transport.

Henrik Stubb

Papers

Bimolecular recombination coefficient as a sensitive testing parameter for low-mobility solar-cell materials.

Molecular field‐effect transistors using conducting polymer Langmuir–Blodgett films

Langmuir—Blodgett light-emitting diodes of poly(3-hexylthiophene) : electro-optical characteristics related to structure

Charge transport in π -conjugated polymers from extraction current transients

Melt and solution processable poly(3-alkylthiophenes) and their blends