Cost-effective fabrication techniques for organic solar cells

Organic solar cells are a promising candidate for a future of ubiquitous, low-cost solar power harvesting. While this promise is founded on easily scalable, large-area solution processing techniques, most of the scientific research community a) uses small-scale deposition methods convenient for the lab, b) works in an inert nitrogen or argon atmosphere inside a lovebox and c) deposits the electrodes by physical vapour deposition in vacuum. These three issues are not compatible with real large scale product ion. In this work, we compare different fabrication techniques like spray coating, screen printing, and inkjet printing to commonly employed spincoating. The challenges of the three techniques and the requirements of the different layers involved in the solar cell (opaque and transparent electrodes, blocking layer and light absorbing layer) are discussed towards fully solution-processed devices     «

Organic solar cells are a promising candidate for a future of ubiquitous, low-cost solar power harvesting. While this promise is founded on easily scalable, large-area solution processing techniques, most of the scientific research community a) uses small-scale deposition methods convenient for the lab, b) works in an inert nitrogen or argon atmosphere inside a lovebox and c) deposits the electrodes by physical vapour deposition in vacuum. These three issues are not compatible with real large sc...     »