Large-area organic photovoltaic module—Fabrication and performance

Here we describe the fabrication of the largest (233 cm² total area) organic photovoltaic (OPV) module (polymer:fullerene) to be certified by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). OPV solar cells were fabricated at Plextronics by spin coating a blend of poly 3-hexylthiophene-2,5 diyl (P3HT) and [6,6] phenyl C₆₁ butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) on top of our hole transport layer (HTL), Plexcore^® OC. In laboratory-scale devices (0.09 cm²), this system routinely exhibits power conversion efficiencies exceeding 3.7%. This P3HT:PCBM active layer and HTL ink system was used to scale up to the larger area module (15.2 cm×15.2 cm module size, i.e. 233 cm² total area; 108 cm² active area), which was certified by NREL as having 1.1% total area efficiency (3.4% active area efficiency).     

Phosphorescent organic light emitting diodes with a cross-linkable hole transporting material

A cross-linkable hole transporting material PLEXCORE® HTL was incorporated in phosphorescent organic light emitting diodes. This hole transporting material is based on an arylamine derivate. The device performance in terms of efficiency and lifetime was compared to the same devices with a thermally evaporated 4,4′-bis[N-(1-naphthyl)-N-phenylamino]biphenyl (NPB)-based hole transporting layer. The resulting devices with the cross-linkable HTL gave higher efficiency, smaller roll-off and longer lifetime compared with devices with the NPB-based devices. This new hole transporting material paves the road toward solution processed multilayer light emitting devices.