Charge generation in organic solar cells: Journey toward 20% power conversion efficiency

Abstract The power conversion efficiencies of organic solar cells (OSCs) have routinely lagged far behind those of their inorganic counterparts. However, owing to the enormous contributions of many researchers, the power conversion efficiencies of OSCs have rapidly improved and now exceed 19%. The c...

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Main Author: Yasunari Tamai
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2022-12-01
Series:Aggregate
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1002/agt2.280
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author Yasunari Tamai
author_facet Yasunari Tamai
author_sort Yasunari Tamai
collection DOAJ
description Abstract The power conversion efficiencies of organic solar cells (OSCs) have routinely lagged far behind those of their inorganic counterparts. However, owing to the enormous contributions of many researchers, the power conversion efficiencies of OSCs have rapidly improved and now exceed 19%. The charge generation mechanisms in OSCs have been heavily debated during this period while acquiring valuable knowledge. This review highlights fundamental and cutting‐edge research that rationalizes why OSCs can generate photocurrent so efficiently. In particular, a photophysicist's views on exciton diffusion to donor:acceptor interfaces, charge transfer at the donor:acceptor interface, and long‐range spatial dissociation of charge transfer states are discussed. Although a general consensus in this area has not been reached yet, recent time‐resolved spectroscopic measurements provide important photophysical insights that can help achieving a better understanding of the charge generation mechanism in OSCs. Based on these observations, future research directions for realizing further improvements in OSC performance are discussed.
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spelling doaj.art-36ea7ad89eb94145a313c1715181027d2022-12-27T06:37:38ZengWileyAggregate2692-45602022-12-0136n/an/a10.1002/agt2.280Charge generation in organic solar cells: Journey toward 20% power conversion efficiencyYasunari Tamai0Department of Polymer Chemistry Graduate School of Engineering Kyoto University Katsura Nishikyo Kyoto JapanAbstract The power conversion efficiencies of organic solar cells (OSCs) have routinely lagged far behind those of their inorganic counterparts. However, owing to the enormous contributions of many researchers, the power conversion efficiencies of OSCs have rapidly improved and now exceed 19%. The charge generation mechanisms in OSCs have been heavily debated during this period while acquiring valuable knowledge. This review highlights fundamental and cutting‐edge research that rationalizes why OSCs can generate photocurrent so efficiently. In particular, a photophysicist's views on exciton diffusion to donor:acceptor interfaces, charge transfer at the donor:acceptor interface, and long‐range spatial dissociation of charge transfer states are discussed. Although a general consensus in this area has not been reached yet, recent time‐resolved spectroscopic measurements provide important photophysical insights that can help achieving a better understanding of the charge generation mechanism in OSCs. Based on these observations, future research directions for realizing further improvements in OSC performance are discussed.https://doi.org/10.1002/agt2.280charge dissociationcharge recombinationcharge separationcharge transferexciton diffusionorganic photovoltaics
spellingShingle Yasunari Tamai
Charge generation in organic solar cells: Journey toward 20% power conversion efficiency
Aggregate
charge dissociation
charge recombination
charge separation
charge transfer
exciton diffusion
organic photovoltaics
title Charge generation in organic solar cells: Journey toward 20% power conversion efficiency
title_full Charge generation in organic solar cells: Journey toward 20% power conversion efficiency
title_fullStr Charge generation in organic solar cells: Journey toward 20% power conversion efficiency
title_full_unstemmed Charge generation in organic solar cells: Journey toward 20% power conversion efficiency
title_short Charge generation in organic solar cells: Journey toward 20% power conversion efficiency
title_sort charge generation in organic solar cells journey toward 20 power conversion efficiency
topic charge dissociation
charge recombination
charge separation
charge transfer
exciton diffusion
organic photovoltaics
url https://doi.org/10.1002/agt2.280
work_keys_str_mv AT yasunaritamai chargegenerationinorganicsolarcellsjourneytoward20powerconversionefficiency