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
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
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
Dattani R
(2014)
A general mechanism for controlling thin film structures in all-conjugated block copolymer:fullerene blends
in J. Mater. Chem. A
Fei Z
(2011)
A low band gap co-polymer of dithienogermole and 2,1,3-benzothiadiazole by Suzuki polycondensation and its application in transistor and photovoltaic cells
in Journal of Materials Chemistry
Collins B
(2012)
Absolute Measurement of Domain Composition and Nanoscale Size Distribution Explains Performance in PTB7:PC 71 BM Solar Cells
in Advanced Energy Materials
Beaumont N
(2014)
Acceptor Properties of Boron Subphthalocyanines in Fullerene Free Photovoltaics
in The Journal of Physical Chemistry C
Beaumont N
(2011)
Boron Subphthalocyanine Chloride as an Electron Acceptor for High-Voltage Fullerene-Free Organic Photovoltaics
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
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
Cappel UB
(2013)
Charge Generation Dynamics in CdS:P3HT Blends for Hybrid Solar Cells.
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
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
Bannock J
(2013)
Continuous Synthesis of Device-Grade Semiconducting Polymers in Droplet-Based Microreactors
in Advanced Functional Materials
Wang J
(2012)
Control of exciton spin statistics through spin polarization in organic optoelectronic devices.
in Nature communications
Bannock J
(2014)
Controlled synthesis of conjugated random copolymers in a droplet-based microreactor
in Mater. Horiz.
Hellmann C
(2013)
Controlling the interaction of light with polymer semiconductors.
in Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.)
Bruno A
(2013)
Determining the Exciton Diffusion Length in a Polyfluorene from Ultrafast Fluorescence Measurements of Polymer/Fullerene Blend Films
in The Journal of Physical Chemistry C
Kirchartz T
(2014)
Device modelling of organic bulk heterojunction solar cells.
in Topics in current chemistry
Lilliu S
(2011)
Dynamics of Crystallization and Disorder during Annealing of P3HT/PCBM Bulk Heterojunctions
in Macromolecules
Vaissier V
(2014)
Effect of Molecular Fluctuations on Hole Diffusion within Dye Monolayers
in Chemistry of Materials
Lilliu S
(2011)
Effects of thermal annealing upon the nanomorphology of poly(3-hexylselenophene)-PCBM blends.
in Macromolecular rapid communications
Chauhan K
(2010)
Efficient Organic Photovoltaic Cells through Structural Modification of Chloroaluminum Phthalocyanine/Fullerene Heterojunctions
in The Journal of Physical Chemistry C
Kissling GP
(2011)
Electrochemical charge transfer mediated by metal nanoparticles and quantum dots.
in Physical chemistry chemical physics : PCCP
O'Mahony F
(2012)
Electron and hole transfer at metal oxide/Sb2S3/spiro-OMeTAD heterojunctions
in Energy & Environmental Science
Cho S
(2010)
Electronic Structure of C 60 /Phthalocyanine/ITO Interfaces Studied using Soft X-ray Spectroscopies
in The Journal of Physical Chemistry C
Chauhan V
(2010)
Elucidating the factors that determine the open circuit voltage in discrete heterojunction organic photovoltaic cells
in J. Mater. Chem.
Lindblad R
(2014)
Energy level alignment in TiO2/metal sulfide/polymer interfaces for solar cell applications.
in Physical chemistry chemical physics : PCCP
Friedel B
(2012)
Enhanced nanoscale imaging of polymer blends by temperature-controlled selective dissolution.
in Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany)
Janssen RA
(2013)
Factors limiting device efficiency in organic photovoltaics.
in Advanced materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.)
Collins B
(2011)
Fullerene-Dependent Miscibility in the Silole-Containing Copolymer PSBTBT-08
in Macromolecules
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
Sullivan P
(2011)
Halogenated Boron Subphthalocyanines as Light Harvesting Electron Acceptors in Organic Photovoltaics
in Advanced Energy Materials
Mawyin J
(2011)
Hybrid Heterojunction Nanorods for Nanoscale Controlled Morphology in Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells
in The Journal of Physical Chemistry C
Ehrler B
(2012)
Hybrid pentacene/a-silicon solar cells utilizing multiple carrier generation via singlet exciton fission
in Applied Physics Letters
Wood S
(2014)
In situ formation of organic-inorganic hybrid nanostructures for photovoltaic applications
in Faraday Discuss.
Ehrler B
(2012)
In situ measurement of exciton energy in hybrid singlet-fission solar cells.
in Nature communications
Beaumont N
(2011)
Increased efficiency in small molecule organic photovoltaic cells through electrode modification with self-assembled monolayers
in Energy & Environmental Science
Hancox I
(2010)
Increased efficiency of small molecule photovoltaic cells by insertion of a MoO 3 hole-extracting layer
in Energy Environ. Sci.
Dalgleish S
(2011)
Indole-substituted nickel dithiolene complexes in electronic and optoelectronic devices
in Journal of Materials Chemistry
Manke F
(2015)
Influence of a nearby substrate on the reorganization energy of hole exchange between dye molecules.
in Physical chemistry chemical physics : PCCP
Bansal N
(2013)
Influence of crystallinity and energetics on charge separation in polymer-inorganic nanocomposite films for solar cells.
in Scientific reports
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
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
Hou B
(2013)
Initial stages in the formation of Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4 nanoparticles.
in Chemistry (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany)
Nightingale A
(2013)
Large-scale synthesis of nanocrystals in a multichannel droplet reactor
in Journal of Materials Chemistry A
Kirchartz T
(2012)
Meaning of reaction orders in polymer:fullerene solar cells
in Physical Review B
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
Hewat TE
(2014)
Neutral copper(I) dipyrrin complexes and their use as sensitizers in dye-sensitized solar cells.
in Dalton transactions (Cambridge, England : 2003)