Rational material, interface, and device engineering for high-performance polymer and perovskite solar cells (Presentation Recording)

Abstract

The performance of polymer and hybrid solar cells is also strongly dependent on their efficiency in harvesting light, exciton dissociation, charge transport, and charge collection at the metal/organic/metal oxide or the metal/perovskite/metal oxide interfaces. Our laboratory employs a molecular engineering approach to develop processible low band-gap polymers with high charge carrier mobility that can enhance power conversion efficiency of the single junction solar cells to values as high as ~11%. We have also developed several innovative strategies to modify the interface of bulk-heterojunction devices and create new device architectures to fully explore their potential for solar applications. In this talk, the integrated approach of combining material design, interface, and device engineering to significantly improve the performance of polymer and hybrid perovskite photovoltaic cells will be discussed. Specific emphasis will be placed on the development of low band-gap polymers with reduced reorganizational energy and proper energy levels, formation of optimized morphology of active layer, and minimized interfacial energy barriers using functional conductive surfactants. At the end, several new device architectures and optical engineering strategies to make tandem cells and semitransparent solar cells will be discussed to explore the full promise of polymer and perovskite hybrid solar cells.