Next Generation Photovoltaics: Single Component Organic Solar Cells

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The ability for organic materials to behave as conductors and semiconductors has ushered in an entire new era of advanced electronics that has dramatically changed our society. The key advantages over traditional inorganic materials such as silicon are: 1) the structure of the organic materials can be easily modified using synthetic chemistry allowing for precise control over the materials optoelectronic and physical properties allowing for tailored device function and 2) the organic materials are easily processed into electronically active solids (films) via low temperature methods such as printing or sublimation allowing for additive manufacturing. Applications include light emitting diodes, batteries, sensors, medical imaging, transistors, and photovoltaics (PV). The proposed research program will advance organic solar cell (OSC) technology through materials innovation, new chemistry, and device fabrication from lab to prototype scale. OSCs are a promising clean-energy technology. OSCs rely on organic materials for converting photon energy into electricity. Active materials are soluble in organic solvents allowing for printing. This enables the fabrication of OSCs onto a range of substrates/surfaces including foils and plastic films that are lightweight and flexible. OSCs can be color-tuned and made semi-transparent, thus the type and amount of transmitted light can be finely adjusted. Their organic nature opens the possibility of fully-disposable devices. Unfortunately, to date OSCs have not been widely adopted owing to the reduction in price of silicon-based solar cells. Alternatively, OSCs have utility in niche applications such as solar windows, indoor PV, wearable PV, greenhouse PV, decorative PV, and personal portable charging devices. This research program will center on the development of single photoactive material OSCs, the next frontier in organic PV research. The scientific approach will involve new molecular designs based upon non-fullerene acceptors, new synthetic strategies that are both sustainable and versatile, systematic evaluation of structure-property-function relationships using a range of optoelectronic and nanoscale characterization, and device performance. Champion materials will be vetted in fully printed OSC modules to validate their potential for practical applications. A key objective is to gain a fundamental understanding of materials self-assembly and to translate this knowledge into top performance. Success of this research program will result in the training of HQP in a interdisciplinary field of study, Canadian owned intellectual property in the emerging field of printed electronics and alternative solar power, scientific advancements disseminated in refereed journal publications, clear guidelines on how to develop next generation materials and processes for advanced energy and electronic applications, and advancements in additive-manufacturing to ensure sustainable technology production in Canada.