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dc.contributor.authorPolydorou, Ermioni*
dc.contributor.authorSakelis, Elias*
dc.contributor.authorSoultati, Anastasia*
dc.contributor.authorKaltzoglou, Andreas*
dc.contributor.authorPapadopoulos, Theodoros A.*
dc.contributor.authorBriscoe, Joe*
dc.contributor.authorTsikritzis, Dimitris*
dc.contributor.authorFakis, Mihalis*
dc.contributor.authorPalilis, Leonidas C.*
dc.contributor.authorKennou, Stella*
dc.contributor.authorArgitis, Panagiotis*
dc.contributor.authorFalaras, Polycarpos*
dc.contributor.authorDavazoglou, Dimitris*
dc.contributor.authorVasilopoulou, Maria*
dc.date.accessioned2017-03-28T09:57:39Z
dc.date.available2017-03-28T09:57:39Z
dc.date.issued2017-02-24
dc.identifier.citationPolydorou, E., et. al. (2017). Avoiding ambient air and light induced degradation in high-efficiency polymer solar cells by the use of hydrogen-doped zinc oxide as electron extraction material. Nanoenergy, 34, 500. DOI: 10.1016/j.nanoen.2017.02.047en
dc.identifier.issn2211-2855
dc.identifier.doi10.1016/j.nanoen.2017.02.047
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10034/620451
dc.description.abstractPolymer solar cells have undergone rapid development in recent years. Their limited stability to environmental influence and during illumination, however, still remains a major stumbling block to the commercial application of this technology. Several attempts have been made to address the instability issue, mostly concentrated on the insertion of charge transport interlayers in the device stack. Although zinc oxide (ZnO) is one of the most common electron transport materials in those cells, the presence of defects at the surface and grain boundaries significantly affects the efficiency and stability of the working devices. To address these issues, we herein employ hydrogen-doping of ZnO electron extraction material. It is found that devices based on photoactive layers composed of blends of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) with electron acceptors possessing different energy levels, such as [6,6]-phenyl-C70butyric acid methyl ester (PC70BM) or indene-C60 bisadduct (IC60BA) essentially enhanced their photovoltaic performance when using the hydrogen-doped ZnO with maximum power conversion efficiency (PCE) reaching values of 4.62% and 6.65%, respectively, which are much higher than those of the cells with the pristine ZnO (3.08% and 4.51%). Most significantly, the degradation of non-encapsulated solar cells when exposed to ambient or under prolonged illumination is studied and it is found that devices based on un-doped ZnO showed poor environmental stability and significant photo-degradation while those using hydrogen-doped ZnO interlayers exhibited high long-term ambient stability and maintained nearly 80–90% of their initial PCE values after 40 h of 1.5 AM illumination. All mechanisms responsible for this enhanced stability are elucidated and corresponding models are proposed. This work successfully addresses and tackles the instability problem of polymer solar cells and the key findings pave the way for the upscaling of these and, perhaps, of related devices such as perovskite solar cells.
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherElsevieren
dc.relation.urlhttp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211285517301258en
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/en
dc.subjectZinc oxideen
dc.subjectHydrogen dopingen
dc.subjectPolymer solar cellsen
dc.subjectPhotostabilityen
dc.titleAvoiding ambient air and light induced degradation in high-efficiency polymer solar cells by the use of hydrogen-doped zinc oxide as electron extraction materialen
dc.typeArticleen
dc.contributor.departmentNational Center for Scientific Research Demokritos; University of Patras; University of Athens; National Technical University of Athens; University of Chester; Queen Mary University of Londonen
dc.identifier.journalNano Energy
or.grant.openaccessYesen
rioxxterms.funderSTFC, 3rd BlueJoule Access Programmeen
rioxxterms.identifier.projectHCBG125en
rioxxterms.versionAMen
rioxxterms.versionofrecordhttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.nanoen.2017.02.047
rioxxterms.licenseref.startdate2018-02-24
html.description.abstractPolymer solar cells have undergone rapid development in recent years. Their limited stability to environmental influence and during illumination, however, still remains a major stumbling block to the commercial application of this technology. Several attempts have been made to address the instability issue, mostly concentrated on the insertion of charge transport interlayers in the device stack. Although zinc oxide (ZnO) is one of the most common electron transport materials in those cells, the presence of defects at the surface and grain boundaries significantly affects the efficiency and stability of the working devices. To address these issues, we herein employ hydrogen-doping of ZnO electron extraction material. It is found that devices based on photoactive layers composed of blends of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) with electron acceptors possessing different energy levels, such as [6,6]-phenyl-C70butyric acid methyl ester (PC70BM) or indene-C60 bisadduct (IC60BA) essentially enhanced their photovoltaic performance when using the hydrogen-doped ZnO with maximum power conversion efficiency (PCE) reaching values of 4.62% and 6.65%, respectively, which are much higher than those of the cells with the pristine ZnO (3.08% and 4.51%). Most significantly, the degradation of non-encapsulated solar cells when exposed to ambient or under prolonged illumination is studied and it is found that devices based on un-doped ZnO showed poor environmental stability and significant photo-degradation while those using hydrogen-doped ZnO interlayers exhibited high long-term ambient stability and maintained nearly 80–90% of their initial PCE values after 40 h of 1.5 AM illumination. All mechanisms responsible for this enhanced stability are elucidated and corresponding models are proposed. This work successfully addresses and tackles the instability problem of polymer solar cells and the key findings pave the way for the upscaling of these and, perhaps, of related devices such as perovskite solar cells.
rioxxterms.publicationdate2017-02-24
dc.dateAccepted2017-02-22
dc.date.deposited2017-03-28


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