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Impressive Radiation Stability of Organic Solar Cells Based on Fullerene Derivatives and Carbazole-Containing Conjugated Polymers
journal contribution
posted on 2019-05-16, 00:00 authored by Ilya V. Martynov, Alexander V. Akkuratov, Sergey Yu. Luchkin, Sergey A. Tsarev, Sergei D. Babenko, Vladimir G. Petrov, Keith J. Stevenson, Pavel A. TroshinWe explored the radiation
stability of carbazole-based electron-donor
conjugated polymers, acceptor fullerene derivative [60]PCBM, and their
blends as active layer components of organic solar cells. An exposure
to γ rays induced evident degradation effects in bulk samples
of the pristine fullerene acceptor ([60]PCBM) and two investigated
electron-donor conjugated polymers: PCDTBT and PCDTTBTBTT. The most
severe radiation damage occurred in [60]PCBM as can be concluded from
the significant losses in open circuit voltage, fill factor, and efficiency
of photovoltaic (PV) devices comprising the exposed fullerene acceptor.
Conjugated polymers PCDTBT and PCDTTBTBTT showed substantially different
radiation stabilities: the samples of PCDTTBTBTT exposed to 200 Gy
lost ∼25% of their nominal photovoltaic efficiency due to a
substantial decay of all device parameters, while PCDTBT alone showed
just a minor aging under the same conditions. The fullerene–polymer
composites were much more resistant with respect to the radiation
damage than the bulk samples of pristine materials. In particular,
the PCDTBT/[60]PCBM composite films demonstrated an outstanding radiation
stability while maintaining more than 80% of the initial photovoltaic
efficiency after exposure to γ rays with a maximum absorbed
dose of 6500 Gy. Considering an average annual radiation dose of 160
Gy according to the NASA estimations for satellites at geocentric
Earth orbits, organic solar cells based on PCDTBT/[60]PCBM blends
hold a promise to deliver lifetimes well above 10 years. The
revealed impressive radiation stability of PCDTBT/[60]PCBM blends
in combination with other advantages of organic solar cells, for example,
their mechanical flexibility and lightweight, points to a bright future
of this PV technology in space industry applications.