All solution and ambient processable organic photovoltaic modules fabricated by slot-die coating and achieved a certified 7.56% power conversion efficiency

Abstract

To accelerate the commercialization of organic photovoltaics (OPVs), researchers should use scalable coating approaches compatible with roll-to-roll production in understanding the performance for OPV module manufacturing. The performance of OPV module is strongly changed by the interfacial materials, thin film deposition methods, and processing atmosphere with the film-forming properties of the bulk heterojunction (BHJ) layer influenced intimately to the efficiency of the devices. Herein, we present a reliable process flow and module architecture to demonstrate an air-stable, large-area, and solution-processable OPV module, which the electron transporting layer (ETL), BHJ layer, and hole transporting layer (HTL) are all deposited by slot-die coating and processed in the ambient. Thus prepared module achieved a certified power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 7.56% with an active area of 23.7 cm2 and FF up to 65% under 100 mW/cm2 AM1.5G irradiation. The cell to module loss is found to be 5.5% only in PCE. The encapsulated module also performed superior stability, the performance remained almost unchanged, and PCE can still maintain about 91.7% of the initial value after 1000 h light soaking. We believe this module performed an extremely high PCE reported for OPV module fabricated by ambient slot-die coating in single junction architecture, inferring that the industrialization of OPVs is promising and expectable.