Ageing of printable polymer solar cells

太阳能是迄今为止最丰富的可再生能源。然而，目前它的使用受到太阳能电池高成本的限制，因此我们继续从化石燃料中获得大部分电力。聚合物（塑料）太阳能电池是一个令人兴奋的研究领域，旨在解决这个问题，因为聚合物太阳能电池可以通过简单的制造工艺，如辊对辊涂布。其结果将是成本低得多的太阳能电池，生产能源低得多。迄今为止，大多数研究都集中在这种太阳能电池的效率，并取得了良好的进展，导致商业非晶硅太阳能电池的效率约三分之二。在这个建议中，我们解决了最重要的剩余问题，即理解和提高聚合物太阳能电池的寿命。为此，我们将结合联合收割机先进的太阳能电池的物理，形态和化学分析之前，期间和之后的操作，以获得新的洞察力的因素控制这种电池的退化。聚合物太阳能电池的工作关键取决于材料的纳米级排列，因此我们将使用先进的电子断层扫描技术来研究纳米级形态以及它如何随着器件工作而变化。这将通过对运行中的太阳能电池进行现场光学和电子测量来补充。进一步的创新将是使封装层的纳米级穿孔，并将其与电子束技术联合收割机相结合，以纳米分辨率研究局部降解。这一具有挑战性的项目需要圣安德鲁斯、长春和格拉斯哥的世界领先研究小组之间的合作，以获得一系列专业知识和设施，从而取得重大进展，并将导致新的英中合作。

Solar power is by far the most abundant renewable energy source. However, at present its use is limited by the high cost of solar cells, so that we continue to obtain most of our power from fossil fuels. Polymer (plastic) solar cells are an exciting research field that aims to address this problem, as polymer solar cells could be made by simple manufacturing processes such as roll to roll coating. The result would be much lower cost solar cells, with much lower energy of production. Most research to date has focussed on the efficiency of such solar cells, and good progress has been made, leading to efficiencies approximately two thirds of commercial amorphous silicon solar cells.In this proposal we address the most important remaining issue, namely understanding and enhancing the lifetime of polymer solar cells. To do this we will combine advanced photophysical, morphological and chemical analysis of solar cells before, during and after operation to gain new insight into the factors controlling degradation of such cells. This will provide a solid foundation for developing strategies for extending the solar cell lifetime in the later part of the project.The operation of polymer solar cells depends critically on the nanometre scale arrangement of the materials, so we will use sophisticated electron tomography techniques to study the nanoscale morphology and how it changes with device operation. This will be complemented by optical and electronic measurements performed in-situ on operating solar cells. A further innovation will be to make nanoscale perforation of an encapsulation layer and combine it with electron beam techniques to study local degradation with nanometre resolution. This challenging programme requires collaboration between world-leading research groups in St Andrews, Changchun, and Glasgow to access the range of expertise and facilities to make major progress, and will lead to a new UK-China collaboration.