SUPERGEN Excitonic Solar Cell Consortium - MAIN CORE
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Warwick
Department Name: Chemistry
Abstract
Excitonic Solar Cells (ESCs) are a class of non-conventional solar cells, based on organic and nanostructured materials, in which the charge carriers are generated and simultaneously separated across a heterointerface. They include dye-sensitized nanocrystalline cells, organic cells and hybrid organic-inorganic cells, and in all cases cell fabrication can be achieved using low cost, large area deposition methods on both rigid and flexible substrates. Consequently, ESCs offer genuine medium to long term prospects for reducing the cost of PV below the commercially important threshold of $1 per watt peak. To date work on all types of ESC has been largely restricted to basic studies in academic and national research laboratories, with particular emphasis on improving device understanding and cell efficiency, which are 11% for state of the art dye cells, and much lower for the less well developed organic (4-5%) and hybrid cells (2-3%). However, progress in all types of ESC has undoubtedly been impressive in recent years, with research activity growing rapidly throughout the world. Major improvements in performance have been demonstrated in all cell types with the SUPERGEN Consortium at the forefront of much of this progress. There have also been initial steps to commercialise some ESCs, with the first manufacturing plant to produce dye sensitised cells opening in the UK in 2007. However, much fundamental research still needs to be carried out, in particular on the less well developed organic and hybrid cells, but also on the more mature dye cells where many important challenges must be addressed to enable future successful commercialisation. The UK is in an excellent position to lead this activity in an emerging area of PV technology and renewed SUPERGEN funding will enable the Consortium to remain at the forefront of innovative research, while exploiting its strong connections to a number of relevant commercial organisations.Our proposed Main Core programme builds on the successes of our first SUPERGEN project which benefited strongly from the integration of expertise and knowledge in the two main areas of excitonic solar cells, namely dye sensitised cells and organic cells. We will continue to promote cross-fertilisation of ideas for optimising existing cell types and for innovating new types of cells, with the overall aim of improving the performance of different types of ESC. Training will remain a key priority for the Consortium and the exchange of PDRAs and PhD students between the partner universities will ensure the highest quality multi-disciplinary research environment. The UK has a very strong international position in research into ESCs and the renewal of the SUPERGEN programme will help ensure it remains both competitive and innovative in future years.
Organisations
Publications
Zhang W
(2009)
Systematic improvement in charge carrier mobility of air stable triarylamine copolymers.
in Journal of the American Chemical Society
Wood S
(2013)
Understanding the relationship between molecular order and charge transport properties in conjugated polymer based organic blend photovoltaic devices.
in The Journal of chemical physics
Wood S
(2014)
In situ formation of organic-inorganic hybrid nanostructures for photovoltaic applications
in Faraday Discuss.
Wheeler S
(2015)
Influence of Surface Recombination on Charge-Carrier Kinetics in Organic Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells with Nickel Oxide Interlayers
in Physical Review Applied
Wang J
(2012)
Control of exciton spin statistics through spin polarization in organic optoelectronic devices.
in Nature communications
Wade J
(2015)
Operational electrochemical stability of thiophene-thiazole copolymers probed by resonant Raman spectroscopy.
in The Journal of chemical physics
Vaissier V
(2014)
Effect of Molecular Fluctuations on Hole Diffusion within Dye Monolayers
in Chemistry of Materials
Vaissier V
(2015)
Influence of Intermolecular Interactions on the Reorganization Energy of Charge Transfer between Surface-Attached Dye Molecules
in The Journal of Physical Chemistry C
Urbina A
(2013)
Work function engineering of ZnO electrodes by using p-type and n-type doped carbon nanotubes.
in Nanotechnology
Tsoi W
(2011)
The Nature of In-Plane Skeleton Raman Modes of P3HT and Their Correlation to the Degree of Molecular Order in P3HT:PCBM Blend Thin Films
in Journal of the American Chemical Society
Tsoi W
(2011)
Surface and subsurface morphology of operating nanowire:fullerene solar cells revealed by photoconductive-AFM
in Energy & Environmental Science
Sullivan P
(2011)
Halogenated Boron Subphthalocyanines as Light Harvesting Electron Acceptors in Organic Photovoltaics
in Advanced Energy Materials
Shoaee S
(2014)
A Comparison of Charge Separation Dynamics in Organic Blend Films Employing Fullerene and Perylene Diimide Electron Acceptors
in The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters
Shoaee S
(2013)
Charge Photogeneration for a Series of Thiazolo-Thiazole Donor Polymers Blended with the Fullerene Electron Acceptors PCBM and ICBA
in Advanced Functional Materials
Risbridger T
(2012)
Two-Dimensional Photocurrent and Transmission Mapping of Aqueous Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells
in The Journal of Physical Chemistry C
Ravirajan P
(2012)
Post-Processing Treatments in Hybrid Polymer/Titanium Dioxide Multilayer Solar Cells
in Journal of Nanoelectronics and Optoelectronics
Pockett A
(2015)
Characterization of Planar Lead Halide Perovskite Solar Cells by Impedance Spectroscopy, Open-Circuit Photovoltage Decay, and Intensity-Modulated Photovoltage/Photocurrent Spectroscopy
in The Journal of Physical Chemistry C
O'Mahony F
(2012)
Electron and hole transfer at metal oxide/Sb2S3/spiro-OMeTAD heterojunctions
in Energy & Environmental Science
Nightingale A
(2013)
Large-scale synthesis of nanocrystals in a multichannel droplet reactor
in Journal of Materials Chemistry A
New E
(2013)
Small molecule tandem organic photovoltaic cells incorporating an a-NPD optical spacer layer
in Organic Electronics
Mawyin J
(2011)
Hybrid Heterojunction Nanorods for Nanoscale Controlled Morphology in Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells
in The Journal of Physical Chemistry C
Manke F
(2015)
Influence of a nearby substrate on the reorganization energy of hole exchange between dye molecules.
in Physical chemistry chemical physics : PCCP
Lutz T
(2012)
Thermal decomposition of solution processable metal xanthates on mesoporous titanium dioxide films: a new route to quantum-dot sensitised heterojunctions.
in Physical chemistry chemical physics : PCCP
Lindblad R
(2014)
Energy level alignment in TiO2/metal sulfide/polymer interfaces for solar cell applications.
in Physical chemistry chemical physics : PCCP
Lilliu S
(2011)
Dynamics of Crystallization and Disorder during Annealing of P3HT/PCBM Bulk Heterojunctions
in Macromolecules
Lilliu S
(2011)
Effects of thermal annealing upon the nanomorphology of poly(3-hexylselenophene)-PCBM blends.
in Macromolecular rapid communications
Li Z
(2013)
Voltage-dependent photocurrent transients of PTB7:PC70BM solar cells: Experiment and numerical simulation
in Journal of Applied Physics
Li Z
(2011)
Transient photocurrent measurements of PCDTBT:PC70BM and PCPDTBT:PC70BM Solar Cells: Evidence for charge trapping in efficient polymer/fullerene blends
in Journal of Applied Physics
Li Z
(2011)
Comparison of the Operation of Polymer/Fullerene, Polymer/Polymer, and Polymer/Nanocrystal Solar Cells: A Transient Photocurrent and Photovoltage Study
in Advanced Functional Materials
Li C
(2014)
Built-in potential shift and Schottky-barrier narrowing in organic solar cells with UV-sensitive electron transport layers.
in Physical chemistry chemical physics : PCCP
Kissling GP
(2011)
Electrochemical charge transfer mediated by metal nanoparticles and quantum dots.
in Physical chemistry chemical physics : PCCP
Kirchartz T
(2016)
Reciprocity between Charge Injection and Extraction and Its Influence on the Interpretation of Electroluminescence Spectra in Organic Solar Cells
in Physical Review Applied
Kirchartz T
(2014)
Device modelling of organic bulk heterojunction solar cells.
in Topics in current chemistry
Kirchartz T
(2012)
Meaning of reaction orders in polymer:fullerene solar cells
in Physical Review B
Kirchartz T
(2013)
On the Differences between Dark and Light Ideality Factor in Polymer:Fullerene Solar Cells
in The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters
Kim J
(2015)
Morphology-performance relationships in polymer/fullerene blends probed by complementary characterisation techniques - effects of nanowire formation and subsequent thermal annealing
in Journal of Materials Chemistry C
Kim J
(2012)
A comparison between dithienosilole and dithienogermole donor-acceptor type co-polymers for organic bulk heterojunction photovoltaic devices
in Journal of Materials Chemistry
Kim J
(2014)
Germanium- and Silicon-Substituted Donor-Acceptor Type Copolymers: Effect of the Bridging Heteroatom on Molecular Packing and Photovoltaic Device Performance
in Advanced Energy Materials
Janssen RA
(2013)
Factors limiting device efficiency in organic photovoltaics.
in Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.)
Hou B
(2013)
Structure and Band Edge Energy of Highly Luminescent CdSe 1- x Te x Alloyed Quantum Dots
in The Journal of Physical Chemistry C
Hou B
(2014)
Rapid phosphine-free synthesis of CdSe quantum dots: promoting the generation of Se precursors using a radical initiator
in J. Mater. Chem. A
Hou B
(2013)
Initial stages in the formation of Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4 nanoparticles.
in Chemistry (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany)
Hou B
(2021)
Synthetic Mechanism Studies of Iron Selenides: An Emerging Class of Materials for Electrocatalysis
in Catalysts
Hewat TE
(2014)
Neutral copper(I) dipyrrin complexes and their use as sensitizers in dye-sensitized solar cells.
in Dalton transactions (Cambridge, England : 2003)
Hellmann C
(2013)
Controlling the Interaction of Light with Polymer Semiconductors
in Advanced Materials
Hancox I
(2012)
Optimization of a High Work Function Solution Processed Vanadium Oxide Hole-Extracting Layer for Small Molecule and Polymer Organic Photovoltaic Cells
in The Journal of Physical Chemistry C
Hancox I
(2010)
Increased efficiency of small molecule photovoltaic cells by insertion of a MoO 3 hole-extracting layer
in Energy Environ. Sci.
Hancox I
(2011)
Utilizing n-type vanadium oxide films as hole-extracting layers for small molecule organic photovoltaics
in Applied Physics Letters