Kyeongil Hwang

Toward Large Scale Roll‐to‐Roll Production of Fully Printed Perovskite Solar Cells

Fully printed perovskite solar cells are demonstrated with slot-die coating, a scalable printing method. A sequential slot-die coating process is developed to produce efficient perovskite solar cells and to be used in a large-scale roll-to-roll printing process. All layers excluding the electrodes are printed and devices demonstrate up to 11.96% power conversion efficiency. It is also demonstrated that the new process can be used in roll-to-roll production.

Differentially pumped spray deposition as a rapid screening tool for organic and perovskite solar cells

We report a spray deposition technique as a screening tool for solution processed solar cells. A dual-feed spray nozzle is introduced to deposit donor and acceptor materials separately and to form blended films on substrates in situ. Using a differential pump system with a motorised spray nozzle, the effect of film thickness, solution flow rates and the blend ratio of donor and acceptor materials on device performance can be found in a single experiment. Using this method, polymer solar cells based on poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT):(6,6)-phenyl C61 butyric acid methyl ester (PC61BM) are fabricated with numerous combinations of thicknesses and blend ratios. Results obtained from this technique show that the optimum ratio of materials is consistent with previously reported values confirming this technique is a very useful and effective screening method. This high throughput screening method is also used in a single-feed configuration. In the single-feed mode, methylammonium iodide solution is deposited on lead iodide films to create a photoactive layer of perovskite solar cells. Devices featuring a perovskite layer fabricated by this spray process demonstrated a power conversion efficiencies of up to 7.9%.

One-Step Printable Perovskite Films Fabricated under Ambient Conditions for Efficient and Reproducible Solar Cells

Despite the potential of roll-to-roll processing for the fabrication of perovskite films, the realization of highly efficient and reproducible perovskite solar cells (PeSCs) through continuous coating techniques and low-temperature processing is still challenging. Here, we demonstrate that efficient and reliable CH3NH3PbI3 (MAPbI3) films fabricated by a printing process can be achieved through synergetic effects of binary processing additives, N-cyclohexyl-2-pyrrolidone (CHP) and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). Notably, these perovskite films are deposited from premixed perovskite solutions for facile one-step processing under a room-temperature and ambient atmosphere. The CHP molecules result in the uniform and homogeneous perovskite films even in the one-step slot-die system, which originate from the high boiling point and low vapor pressure of CHP. Meanwhile, the DMSO molecules facilitate the growth of perovskite grains by forming intermediate states with the perovskite precursor molecules. Consequently, fully printed PeSC based on the binary additive system exhibits a high PCE of 12.56% with a high reproducibility.

Slot-Die Coated Perovskite Films Using Mixed Lead Precursors for Highly Reproducible and Large-Area Solar Cells

Recently, many kinds of printing processes have been studied to fabricate perovskite solar cells (PeSCs) for mass production. Among them, slot-die coating is a promising candidate for roll-to-roll processing because of high-throughput, easy module patterning, and a premetered coating system. In this work, we employed mixed lead precursors consisting of PbAc2 and PbCl2 to fabricate PeSCs via slot-die coating. We observed that slot-die-coated perovskite films based on the mixed lead precursors exhibited well-grown and uniform morphology, which was hard to achieve by using only a single lead source. Consequently, PeSCs made with this precursor system showed improved device performance and reproducibility over single PbAc2. Lastly, a large-area module with an active area of 10 cm2 was fabricated with a power conversion efficiency of 8.3%.

Efficient organic Schottky junction solar cells with a platinum chloride-treated PEDOT:PSS interfacial layer

We demonstrate highly efficient organic-based Schottky junction solar cells (OSJSCs) obtained by poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) modification with solution-processed platinum chloride (PtCl4) treatment. The effect of PtCl4 on PEDOT:PSS properties and device performances of solar cells was investigated. Kelvin probe and 4-point probe studies demonstrated that PtCl4 decreased the PEDOT:PSS sheet-resistance and increased the PEDOT:PSS work-function, thereby inducing an improved built-in potential and interface resistance. As a result, with the aid of the PtCl4 treatment, the Schottky junction device had a high power conversion efficiency of 3%, which was more than 20% higher than the reference OSJSCs with no PtCl4, indicating that PtCl4 can be a promising PEDOT:PSS modifier for raising the cell-performances of Schottky-junction based organic solar cells.

Structure–property relationship of D–A type copolymers based on phenanthrene and naphthalene units for organic electronics

Four donor–acceptor (D–A) type conjugated polymers (PA1, PA2, PA3 and PA4) based on phenanthrene and naphthalene as the donating units with or without dimethoxy substitution were synthesized for organic field effect transistors (OFETs) and bulk-heterojunction organic photovoltaics (OPVs). Dimethoxy substituents have significant effects on the optical, electrochemical, charge transport and photovoltaic properties depending on the donor-polyaromatic (PA) compounds. The optical band gaps of these PA-based copolymers from the smallest to the largest are as follows: 1.52 eV (1,5-dimethoxy substituted naphthalene (PA4)), 1.59 eV (unsubstituted naphthalene (PA3)), and 1.63 eV (unsubstituted phenanthrene (PA1), and substituted 9,10-dimethoxy phenanthrene (PA2)). While the values vary depending on the compounds, both PA2 and PA4 are found to have higher highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) energy levels than those of PA1 and PA3 due to the electron donating nature of dimethoxy substituents. The PA based copolymers without dimethoxy substituents showed highly balanced ambipolar behavior with ∼1 cm2 V−1 s−1, whereas the electron mobility of dimethoxy modified PA (MeOPA) based copolymers was suppressed. The inverted bulk heterojunction OPVs based on PA1 and PA3 exhibited power conversion efficiency (PCE) as high as 5.3% and 5.8%, respectively. The PCEs of PA copolymer-based OPV devices were mainly affected by an increase in the open circuit voltage rather than by the photocurrent or fill factor.

Small-Molecule Organic Photovoltaic Modules Fabricated via Halogen-Free Solvent System with Roll-to-Roll Compatible Scalable Printing Method

For the first time, the photovoltaic modules composed of small molecule were successfully fabricated by using roll-to-roll compatible printing techniques. In this study, blend films of small molecules, BTR and PC71BM were slot-die coated using a halogen-free solvent system. As a result, high efficiencies of 7.46% and 6.56% were achieved from time-consuming solvent vapor annealing (SVA) treatment and roll-to-roll compatible solvent additive approaches, respectively. After successful verification of our roll-to-roll compatible method on small-area devices, we further fabricated large-area photovoltaic modules with a total active area of 10 cm2, achieving a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 4.83%. This demonstration of large-area photovoltaic modules through roll-to-roll compatible printing methods, even based on a halogen-free solvent, suggests the great potential for the industrial-scale production of organic solar cells (OSCs).