Seungon Jung

The use of an n-type macromolecular additive as a simple yet effective tool for improving and stabilizing the performance of organic solar cells

The discovery of an easy and powerful way to further improve and stabilize the performance of organic solar cells (OSCs) from the current levels would advance their commercialization. In this work, an unprecedented power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 11.6% with improved stability is demonstrated by using a high-quality n-type macromolecular additive P(NDI2OD-T2) via a simple route without additional processing steps, where the high-quality P(NDI2OD-T2) is isolated by a THF-soaking treatment. We attribute the improved performance to advantageous changes in the morphology of the photoactive materials induced by the macromolecular additive. In addition, using the ITO-free architecture on a flexible PET substrate, we obtain an impressive PCE of 5.66% in macromolecular additive-processed devices. Due to its great applicability and easy accessibility, the use of the macromolecular additive introduced in this study has great potential for broad applications with other OSC systems, which will accelerate the commercial viability of photovoltaic technology.

Locking-In Optimal Nanoscale Structure Induced by Naphthalenediimide-Based Polymeric Additive Enables Efficient and Stable Inverted Polymer Solar Cells

Operational stability and high performance are the most critical issues that must be addressed in order to propel and advance the current polymer solar cell (PSC) technology to the next level, such as manufacturing and mass production. Herein, we report a high power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 11.2%, together with an excellent device stability in PTB7-Th:PC71BM-based PSCs in the inverted structure by introducing the n-type P(NDI2OD-T2) macromolecular additive (>75% PCE retention at high temperature up to 120 °C, >97% PCE retention after 6 months in inert conditions, >93% PCE retention after 2 months in air with encapsulation, and >80% PCE retention after 140 h in air without encapsulation). The PCE is the highest value ever reported in the single-junction systems based on the PTB7 family and is also comparable to the previously reported highest PCE of inverted PSCs. These promising results are attributed to the efficient optimization and stabilization of the blend film morphology in the photoactive layer, achieved using the P(NDI2OD-T2) additive. From the perspective of manufacturing, our studies demonstrate a promising pathway for fabricating low-cost PSCs with high efficiency as well as long-term stability.

Development of Annealing-Free, Solution-Processable Inverted Organic Solar Cells with N-Doped Graphene Electrodes using Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles

An annealing-free process is considered as a technological advancement for the development of flexible (or wearable) organic electronic devices, which can prevent the distortion of substrates and damage to the active components of the device and simplify the overall fabrication process to increase the industrial applications. Owing to its outstanding electrical, optical, and mechanical properties, graphene is seen as a promising material that could act as a transparent conductive electrode for flexible optoelectronic devices. Owing to their high transparency and electron mobility, zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NP) are attractive and promising for their application as charge transporting materials for low-temperature processes in organic solar cells (OSCs), particularly because most charge transporting materials require annealing treatments at elevated temperatures. In this study, graphene/annealing-free ZnO-NP hybrid materials were developed for inverted OSC by successfully integrating ZnO-NP on the hydrophobic surface of graphene, thus aiming to enhance the applicability of graphene as a transparent electrode in flexible OSC systems. Chemical, optical, electrical, and morphological analyses of ZnO-NPs showed that the annealing-free process generates similar results to those provided by the conventional annealing process. The approach was effectively applied to graphene-based inverted OSCs with notable power conversion efficiencies of 8.16% and 7.41% on the solid and flexible substrates, respectively, which promises the great feasibility of graphene for emerging optoelectronic device applications.

Flexible Indium–Tin Oxide Crystal on Plastic Substrates Supported by Graphene Monolayer

Flexible and crystallized indium–tin oxide (ITO) thin films were successfully obtained on plastic polyethylene terephthalate (PET) films with monolayered graphene as a platform. The highly crystalline ITO (c-ITO) was first fabricated on a rigid substrate of graphene on copper foil and it was subsequently transferred onto a PET substrate by a well-established technique. Despite the plasma damage during ITO deposition, the graphene layer effectively acted as a Cu-diffusion barrier. The c-ITO/graphene/PET electrode with the 60-nm-thick ITO exhibited a reasonable sheet resistance of ~45 Ω sq−1 and a transmittance of ~92% at a wavelength of 550 nm. The c-ITO on the monolayered graphene support showed significant enhancement in flexibility compared with the ITO/PET film without graphene because the atomically controlled monolayered graphene acted as a mechanically robust support. The prepared flexible transparent c-ITO/graphene/PET electrode was applied as the anode in a bulk heterojunction polymer solar cell (PSC) to evaluate its performance, which was comparable with that of the commonly used c-ITO/glass electrode. These results represent important progress in the fabrication of flexible transparent electrodes for future optoelectronics applications.

Toward Green Synthesis of Graphene Oxide Using Recycled Sulfuric Acid via Couette–Taylor Flow

Developing eco-friendly and cost-effective processes for the synthesis of graphene oxide (GO) is essential for its widespread industrial applications. In this work, we propose a green synthesis technique for GO production using recycled sulfuric acid and filter-processed oxidized natural graphite obtained from a Couette–Taylor flow reactor. The viscosity of reactant mixtures processed from Couette–Taylor flow was considerably lower (∼200 cP at 25 °C) than that of those from Hummers’ method, which enabled the simple filtration process. The filtered sulfuric acid can be recycled and reused for the repetitive GO synthesis with negligible differences in the as-synthesized GO qualities. This removal of sulfuric acid has great potential in lowering the overall GO production cost as the amount of water required during the fabrication process, which takes a great portion of the total production cost, can be dramatically reduced after such acid filtration. The proposed eco-friendly GO fabrication process is expected to promote the commercial application of graphene materials into industry shortly.

The effect of the graphene integration process on the performance of graphene-based Schottky junction solar cells

With the rise of graphene, its applications as the active component in various types of solar cells, such as transparent conductors, additives, or interfacial charge transport layers, have been intensively investigated. Among them, graphene-based Schottky junction solar cells have been rapidly developed due to their relatively simple device structures compared to conventional p–n junction type solar cells. Through various modifications such as chemical doping, antireflection coating, and interfacial oxide layer control, a power conversion efficiency of over 15% was successfully reported. However, graphene-based Schottky junction type solar cells often suffer from s-shaped current density–voltage characteristics, which leads to the inevitable performance degradation, particularly for the fill factor. In this work, we investigate the origin of such aforementioned behaviors and propose a facile approach to suppress the s-shape character in the operation of graphene-based Schottky junction solar cells. Through the careful modulation of the graphene integration process, the interfacial charge recombination seemed to be significantly suppressed leading to a notably improved device performance (from 0.8% to 12.5%). Our findings shall provide valuable insights into the operating principle of graphene-based Schottky junction solar cells, which can play an important role as one of the primary suppliers of next-generation renewable clean energy.