Micron "rake" can double solar cell conversion rate

Many polymer combinations of mixed donor and acceptor polymers can be used to form a complete plastic solar cell. Unfortunately, some of the best combinations tend to reduce the surface area at the time of electron transfer because they are brought together—from the donor (transferring electrons) to the acceptor (where the electrons in the solar cell pass through to the solar-powered device) . However, through a micron-sized "tweezers", these aggregates can be resolved and nano-sized crystals can be formed that double the surface area and increase the output power by a factor of two.

Stanford University's Institute of Materials and Energy Science (SIMES) called this process "fluid-enhanced crystal engineering" (FLUENCE).

“We used donor and acceptor polymer materials respectively—all-polymer solar cells. Microsizers were used for combing during coating, which doubled the efficiency of the model system used,” said a Chinese-American professor of one of the SIMES members. Bao Zhenan said.

Nowadays, polymers are generally chosen for all-plastic solar cells because polymers are less likely to aggregate and even the excitons produced are rarely polymers that tend to aggregate. However, with this FLUENCE technology, solar cells can use polymers to achieve the light gathering function—excitons (electrons/hole pairs) generated by each light unit, thereby optimizing the conversion efficiency and making its output power more traditional. Coating method doubled.

Column-shaped 1 μm pitch "fluid-enhanced crystal engineering" or scanning electron microscope (SEM) image of FLUENCE "Tweezers"

“The micron-sized tweezers can be tuned to work with existing polymer formulations. However, depending on the polymer system used, the effects of tweezers are also different, but in the case where polymers tend to aggregate into a large mass. The most effective. It can use microscopic scorpions to disperse into small pieces to achieve more efficient exciton dissociation,” said Baozhan Nan.

Currently, these proof-of-concept tweezers experiments are being carried out at a very slow rate of about 3.5-14.2 inches per hour, and the most economical production with plastic solar cells requires a high-speed roll-to-roll (R2R) process of 50 inches per hour. far cry. However, the researchers are not concerned about the challenge of speed, they said, this only need to optimize the parameters - this includes the choice of different solvent types to change the process temperature, in order to upgrade the FLUENCE process to a higher speed manufacturing.

"I think it is very important to choose the right solvent and temperature in order to implement the advantages of this micron-sized rake," said Bao Zheeran.

According to Bao Zheonan, in the past, microscopic straight knives were commonly used to disintegrate these agglomerates, but the efficiency of micro tweezers was 18% higher. It also enabled manufacturers to further increase the production efficiency of all-plastic solar cells. In fact, researchers are very optimistic about the FLUENCE process, which allows plastic solar cells to exhibit a lower cost than silicon solar cells.

Fluid Enhanced Crystal Engineering (FLUENCE) Solutions

Mike Toney, head of the Stanford synchrotron radiation source (SSRL) at the National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), used X-ray diffraction to measure the degree to which FLUENCE can separate donor and acceptor nanocrystals, and also contributed to the study. In addition, Advanced Light Sources (ALS) at the Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) in the United States are used to develop this technology.

Micron tweezers are packaged in 1.2-micron pitch and have a height of about 1.5 microns. Yan Zhou, a research fellow at Stanford University, optimizes distances for the characterization of the donor and acceptor crystals - making them close enough to allow rapid electron transfer, but not so close that the receptor can be returned to the electrons after it is collected. .

Other projects that will help this plan include former SLAC scientist Stefan Mannsfeld (now a professor at the Dresden Institute of Technology in Germany), former SIMES postdoctoral research fellow Ying Diao (currently a professor at the University of Illinois), and from ALS, Peking University, and Korea. University of the University of scientists.

The US Department of Energy's (DoE) BRIDGE Research Program, SLAC's Guided Research and Development Programs Laboratory and National Accelerator Laboratory, SIMES, and Stanford University all provide funding for this project.

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