A new generation of eco-friendly organic solar cells

有机太阳能电池（OSC）是第三代薄膜光伏技术。最近，OSC已成为取代传统硅基太阳能电池的最有前途的设备之一，2019年全球市场规模为5560万美元，预计到2027年将增长到1.013亿美元。其出色的功率转换效率（接近23%）、低加工成本和较低的环境足迹将有助于推动该技术在未来的发展。如今，OSC商业化的主要限制仍然是与实验室规模产品或无机太阳能电池相比，商业装置的低功率转换效率。从基本观点来看，这可能与缺乏对允许不同有机层和/或电极之间的电荷转移的基本机制的了解有关。虽然许多实验室规模的产品已经证明了高功率转换效率，但大部分工作都是用几乎不适用于大规模的工艺完成的，例如旋涂和低压物理气相沉积（PVD），这限制了这些材料在未来的发展。从战略的角度来看，缺乏强大的本地合作伙伴关系来合作开发先进的商业OSC也限制了这些设备在加拿大的市场。由于所有这些原因，需要行业做出许多努力来理解和提高制造过程的不同步骤的质量。在这种情况下，我们的研究团队，沿着与几个工业加拿大合作伙伴，决定加入他们的努力，以应对这些挑战。在这种情况下，我们的目标是提供前沿方法来开发功能性涂层和表面，使这个工业联盟能够开发光伏行业的新市场。

Organic solar cells (OSCs) are the third generation of thin-film photovoltaic technologies. Recently, OSCs have become one of the most promising devices to replace conventional silicon-based solar cells with a global market size of 55.6 million U$ in 2019, that is projected to grow to 101.3 million U$ in 2027. Their remarkable power conversion efficiency (close to 23%), low-processing cost and lower environmental footprint will contribute to propelling this technology in the future. Today, the main limitation for the commercialization of the OSCs remains the low power conversion efficiency of the commercial devices in comparison with lab-scale products or inorganic solar cells. From a fundamental point of view this can be related to the lack of knowledge of the fundamental mechanisms allowing the charge transfer between the different organic layers and/or the electrode. Although many lab-scale products have demonstrated high power conversion efficiency, most of the work has been done with processes that are hardly applicable at large scale, such as spin coating and low-pressure physical vapour deposition (PVD), which limits the development of these materials in the future. From a strategic point of view, the lack of strong local partnerships cooperating on the development of advanced commercial OSCs also limits today the market for these devices in Canada. Because all these reasons, many efforts are required from the industry to understand and improve the quality of the different steps of the fabrication process. In this context, our research team, along with several industrial Canadian partners, decide to join their efforts to tackle these challenges. In this context, our objective is to offer front-edge methods to develop functional coatings and surfaces that would enable this industrial consortium to develop new markets in the photovoltaic industry.