Abstract
The use of polymer solar cells (PSCs) for indoor dim-light energy harvesting has attracted significant interest for low power consumption electronics such as the Internet of Things. However, the photostability study and degradation mechanism under indoor artificial light is far behind than those under full sun illumination (standard AM 1.5G), which is crucial for the successful commercialization of indoor PSCs. Herein, the operational lifetime and photodegradation mechanism of PTB7-Th:PC70BM-based inverted PSCs degraded under standard AM 1.5G and 1000 lux LED 2700K light sources were compared. A high power conversion efficiency (PCE) of up to 16.19% and a long operational lifetime (T80) of 3060 min were achieved by LED-irradiated devices, higher and more stable than that of AM 1.5G-irradiated devices with PCE of 9.98% and T80 of only 260 min. Using impedance spectroscopy and three resistive-capacitive equivalent circuit model, we were able to identify the most suffered layer. Our results demonstrate that PSCs have potential practical applications as high performance and a high stable indoor power source.
Highlights
The development of polymer solar cells (PSCs) as indoor dim-light energy harvesting has recently attracted great interest in powering low-power wireless connected Internet of Things (IoT) [1]–[3]
In this work, we study the device performance, photostability lifetime, and degradation behavior of the cells exposed under continuous illumination of two different light sources, standard reference AM 1.5G (100 mW cm−2) and 1000 lux light-emitting diode (LED) 2700 K lamp (0.35 mW cm−2) in inert atmosphere
In conclusion, an electrical degradation study of the inverted structure of ITO/electron transport layer (ETL)/PTB7-Th:PC70BM/V2O5/Ag PSCs photodegraded under two different light sources in an inert atmosphere was presented
Summary
The development of polymer solar cells (PSCs) as indoor dim-light energy harvesting has recently attracted great interest in powering low-power wireless connected Internet of Things (IoT) [1]–[3]. The unique features of cost-effective, lightweight, flexible, environmentally benign, and coloration of PSCs are highly desirable for indoor applications [5]–[7] Due to their highly tunable light-absorption photoactive materials properties and well-matched spectral response between the absorption spectra of PSCs device with the emission spectra of common indoor light sources, such as fluorescence and light-emitting diode (LED) lamps, PSCs have shown as much higher power conversion efficiency (PCE) under dim-light illumination [8]–[10]. IS analysis was used to study the photostability of the inverted PTB7-Th:PC70BM-based solar cells under the exposure of 1 sun illumination (standard reference AM 1.5G) and 1000 lux artificial LED 2700 K light over aging time. The photodegradation behaviors of the devices studied by impedance spectroscopy reveal that the main cause behind the instability is the electron transport layer
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