Abstract
The evolution and emergence of organic solar cells and hybrid organic-silicon heterojunction solar cells have been deemed as promising sustainable future technologies, owing to the use of π-conjugated polymers. In this regard, the scope of this review article presents a comprehensive summary of the applications of π-conjugated polymers as hole transporting layers (HTLs) or emitters in both organic solar cells and organic-silicon hybrid heterojunction solar cells. The different techniques used to synthesize these polymers are discussed in detail, including their electronic band structure and doping mechanisms. The general architecture and principle of operating heterojunction solar cells is addressed. In both discussed solar cell types, incorporation of π-conjugated polymers as HTLs have seen a dramatic increase in efficiencies attained by these devices, owing to the high transmittance in the visible to near-infrared region, reduced carrier recombination, high conductivity, and high hole mobilities possessed by the p-type polymeric materials. However, these cells suffer from long-term stability due to photo-oxidation and parasitic absorptions at the anode interface that results in total degradation of the polymeric p-type materials. Although great progress has been seen in the incorporation of conjugated polymers in the various solar cell types, there is still a long way to go for cells incorporating polymeric materials to realize commercialization and large-scale industrial production due to the shortcomings in the stability of the polymers. This review therefore discusses the progress in using polymeric materials as HTLs in organic solar cells and hybrid organic-silicon heterojunction solar cells with the intention to provide insight on the quest of producing highly efficient but less expensive solar cells.
Highlights
Over the past centuries, the demand for new technologies based on alternative renewable energy sources has seen an exponential growth due to the alarming rate of increasing global population, the current global energy catastrophe, the unceasing consumption of fossil fuel storages, and the emission of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere because of the combustion of fossil fuels
The challenge in solar cells is centered on finding the device with the highest power conversion efficiency (PCE), long-term stability, and that comes at a lower production or fabrication cost in order to gain broad stream commercialization and large-scale industrial production
This review focused on the significant progress made in the employment of conjugated polymers as hole transporting layers (HTLs) in organic-silicon hybrid heterojunction solar cells and organic solar cells, and how they affect the PCE and stability of the devices
Summary
The demand for new technologies based on alternative renewable energy sources has seen an exponential growth due to the alarming rate of increasing global population, the current global energy catastrophe, the unceasing consumption of fossil fuel storages, and the emission of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere because of the combustion of fossil fuels. Despite the significant performance progress and higher attained efficiencies by silicon-based solar cells, their large-scale industrial production and commercialization is restricted and hampered by the complexity in fabrication processes and the involved number of steps, which makes the solar panels extremely expensive These drawbacks and limitations experienced by silicon PV cells and the inability to provide cost-effective energy has shifted research to focus on the development and exploration of alternative materials such as cadmium indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) and cadmium telluride (CdTe), widely known as second generation thin-film photovoltaics, to decrease the manufacturing cost and increase manufacturing and production. Theincluding various synthetic techniques niques conjugated polymers are presented, their electronic band structure of conjugated polymers are presented, including bandof structure andpolymers doping as HTLs and doping mechanisms, together their with electronic the application conjugated in organic cells, and organic-silicon heterojunction cellssolar are discussed mechanisms, together withsolar the application of conjugatedhybrid polymers as HTLs insolar organic in detail. hybrid heterojunction solar cells are discussed in detail
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