Peter Peumans

Small molecular weight organic thin-film photodetectors and solar cells

In this review, we discuss the physics underlying the operation of single and multiple heterojunction, vacuum-deposited organic solar cells based on small molecular weight thin films. For single heterojunction cells, we find that the need for direct contact between the deposited electrode and the active organics leads to quenching of excitons. An improved device architecture, the double heterojunction, is shown to confine excitons within the active layers, allowing substantially higher internal efficiencies to be achieved. A full optical and electrical analysis of the double heterostructure architecture leads to optimal cell design as a function of the optical properties and exciton diffusion lengths of the photoactive materials. Combining the double heterostructure with novel light trapping schemes, devices with external efficiencies approaching their internal efficiency are obtained. When applied to an organic photovoltaic cell with a power conversion efficiency of 1.0%±0.1% under 1 sun AM1.5 illuminati...

Efficient bulk heterojunction photovoltaic cells using small-molecular-weight organic thin films.

The power conversion efficiency of small-molecular-weight and polymer organic photovoltaic cells has increased steadily over the past decade. This progress is chiefly attributable to the introduction of the donor–acceptor heterojunction that functions as a dissociation site for the strongly bound photogenerated excitons. Further progress was realized in polymer devices through use of blends of the donor and acceptor materials: phase separation during spin-coating leads to a bulk heterojunction that removes the exciton diffusion bottleneck by creating an interpenetrating network of the donor and acceptor materials. The realization of bulk heterojunctions using mixtures of vacuum-deposited small-molecular-weight materials has, on the other hand, posed elusive: phase separation induced by elevating the substrate temperature inevitably leads to a significant roughening of the film surface and to short-circuited devices. Here, we demonstrate that the use of a metal cap to confine the organic materials during annealing prevents the formation of a rough surface morphology while allowing for the formation of an interpenetrating donor–acceptor network. This method results in a power conversion efficiency 50 per cent higher than the best values reported for comparable bilayer devices, suggesting that this strained annealing process could allow for the formation of low-cost and high-efficiency thin film organic solar cells based on vacuum-deposited small-molecular-weight organic materials.

Very-high-efficiency double-heterostructure copper phthalocyanine/C60 photovoltaic cells

We demonstrate an external power conversion efficiency of (3.6±0.2)% under AM1.5 spectral illumination of 150 mW/cm2 (1.5 suns) with vacuum-deposited copper phthalocyanine/C60 thin-film double-heterostructure photovoltaic cells incorporating an exciton-blocking layer (EBL). We show that the anode work function influences the photocarrier collection characteristics through the built-in electric field. The cell parameters are less sensitive to the cathode work function, which is attributed to cathode-induced defect states in the EBL energy gap. The presence of these defect states also explains the surprisingly low resistance of the EBL to electron transport. We anticipate significant further improvements in power conversion efficiency by employing optimal structures in light-trapping geometries.

Efficient photon harvesting at high optical intensities in ultrathin organic double-heterostructure photovoltaic diodes

We demonstrate a method for efficient photon harvesting in organic thin films, thereby increasing the efficiency of organic photovoltaic cells. By incorporating an exciton-blocking layer (EBL) inserted between the photoactive organic layers and the metal cathode, we achieved an external power conversion efficiency of 2.4%±0.3% in vacuum-deposited ultrathin organic bilayer photovoltaic (PV) cells employed in a simple light trapping geometry. Ultrathin (∼100 A) cells incorporating the transparent, conductive EBL have an internal quantum efficiency as high as 33%±4% over a spectral region matched to the solar spectrum. The very thin organic layers have a low series resistance, allowing for efficient power conversion in organic PV cells under intense (>15 suns) AM1.5 illumination. This device structure demonstrates that control of exciton diffusion in solid-state organic devices leads to a significant increase in the photon-to-carrier conversion efficiency.

Efficient, high-bandwidth organic multilayer photodetectors

Organic photodetectors incorporating an ultrathin (⩾5 A) donor–acceptor alternating multilayer stack as the optically active region exhibit external quantum efficiencies of 75% across the visible spectrum, and have subnanosecond response times. Photogenerated excitons efficiently dissociate into free electrons and holes by rapid charge-transfer across the several closely spaced organic-layer interfaces. The dependence of the quantum efficiency on applied voltage and layer thickness suggests that escape of photogenerated carriers from potential wells formed by the multilayers due to tunneling prior to recombination leads to the high efficiencies observed. The impulse response of the highest-bandwidth devices is characterized by a full width at half maximum of (720±70)u200aps. The performance of these devices makes them a useful building block for molecular organic photonic integrated circuits.

Micropatterning of small molecular weight organic semiconductor thin films using organic vapor phase deposition

Using both analytical and experimental methods, we show that micron scale patterned growth of small molecular weight organic semiconductor thin films can be achieved by the recently demonstrated process of organic vapor phase deposition (OVPD). In contrast to the conventional process of vacuum thermal evaporation, the background gas pressure during OVPD is typically 0.1–10 Torr, resulting in a molecular mean free path (mfp) of from 100 to 1 μm, respectively. Monte Carlo simulations of film growth through apertures at these gas densities indicate that when the mfp is on the order of the mask-to-substrate separation, deposit edges can become diffuse. The simulations and deposition experiments discussed here indicate that the deposited feature shape is controlled by the mfp, the aperture geometry, and the mask-to-substrate separation. Carefully selected process conditions and mask geometries can result in features as small as 1 μm. Furthermore, based on continuum and stochastic models of molecular transport in confined geometries, we propose the in situ direct patterning growth technique of organic vapor jet printing. The high pattern definition obtained by OVPD makes this process attractive for the growth of a wide range of structures employed in modern organic electronic devices.

Direct mask-free patterning of molecular organic semiconductors using organic vapor jet printing

We demonstrate the solvent-free, high-resolution direct printing of molecular organic semiconductors for use in low cost optoelectronic applications. In this method, called organic vapor jet printing, hot inert carrier gas picks up the molecular organic vapor and expands it through a microscopic nozzle, resulting in physisorption of the molecules onto a cooled substrate. Pattern resolution and printing speed are determined by the nozzle shape, nozzle-to-substrate distance, downstream pressure, and molecular mass of the carrier gas. Quantitative models are developed using a combination of scaling analysis, direct simulation Monte Carlo modeling, and printing experiments. Pattern resolutions of up to 1000dpi and local deposition rates exceeding 2300A∕s are achieved. Pentacene channel thin film transistors are printed at a local deposition rate of 700A∕s at both low and atmospheric pressures, resulting in a field-effect mobility of 0.25cm2∕Vs and a current on/off ratio of 7×105 for devices grown at a backgro...

Geometric light trapping with a V-trap for efficient organic solar cells

The efficiency of todays most efficient organic solar cells is primarily limited by the ability of the active layer to absorb all the sunlight. While internal quantum efficiencies exceeding 90% are common, the external quantum efficiency rarely exceeds 70%. Light trapping techniques that increase the ability of a given active layer to absorb light are common in inorganic solar cells but have only been applied to organic solar cells with limited success. Here, we analyze the light trapping mechanism for a cell with a V-shape substrate configuration and demonstrate significantly improved photon absorption in an 5.3%-efficient PCDTBT:PC(70)BM bulk heterojunction polymer solar cell. The measured short circuit current density improves by 29%, in agreement with model predictions, and the power conversion efficiency increases to 7.2%, a 35% improvement over the performance in the absence of a light trap.

Ion-pair reversed-phase chromatography of short double-stranded deoxyribonucleic acid in silicon micro-pillar array columns: Retention model and applications

Separation of double-stranded (ds) DNAs is important in numerous biochemical analyses relevant for clinical applications. A widely used separation technique is high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), in the variant of ion-pair reversed-phase (IP-RP) chromatography. HPLC can be miniaturized by means of silicon micro-pillar array columns leading to on-chip fast and high resolution dsDNA separation with limited sample quantity. However, theoretical studies of retentive behavior of dsDNA in miniaturized chromatographic columns are hardly available, despite their enormous practical relevance. This paper established a new retention model to describe the size dependent separation of dsDNAs for any characteristic of the linear mobile phase gradient, in analogy to the model used to describe the retention of polymer chains with repeating units in RP HPLC. The model agrees with a large amount of dsDNA retention data, measured using DNA molecules in the size range of 10-400 base pairs in columns with different lengths (2 and 40cm) and different micro-pillar sizes (2 and 2.5μm in diameter), in various mobile phase gradients. The model is particularly useful in practice, since it requires no numerical solutions and the column-specific fitting parameters (4 or 5) can be determined in a limited number of separation runs. As examples of its applications, the model has been used for the optimization of dsDNA step-gradient separations (5 dsDNAs separated within 8min) and for the determination of the size of dsDNA fragment (with uncertainty of about 2%). These applications are especially relevant for on-chip DNA analysis devices.

Resonant cavity enhanced light harvesting in flexible thin-film organic solar cells

Dielectric/metal/dielectric (DMD) electrodes have the potential to significantly increase the absorption efficiency and photocurrent in flexible organic solar cells. We demonstrate that this enhancement is attributed to a broadband cavity resonance. Silver-based semitransparent DMD electrodes with sheet resistances below 10 ohm/sq. are fabricated on flexible polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrates in a high-throughput roll-to-roll sputtering tool. We carefully study the effect of the semitransparent DMD electrode (here composed of Zn(x)Sn(y)O(z)/Ag/In(x)Sn(y)O(z)) on the optical device performance of a copper phthalocyanine (CuPc)/fullerene (C60) bilayer cell and illustrate that a resonant cavity enhanced light trapping effect dominates the optical behavior of the device.