Project Establis


About Establis

Earth receives enough sunlight in one hour to satisfy all human needs in a year. Using solar energy will reduce harmful CO2 emissions and resolve the forthcoming energy deficit. The market for stable, mass-produced Organic Solar Cells is estimated at one billion Euros by 2016.

More about Establis

Researchers social network

ESTABLIS will train a team of 11 PhDs and 4 Postdocs to become the scientific leaders in industry and academia. ESTABLIS Fellows will excel.

Research on organic solar cells

Complementarity is at the heart of Establis. To develop Organic Solar Cells requires a concerted combination of physical, synthetic and modelling capabilities. Establis members are working together–across preconceived scientific boundaries–to accelerate the production of Organic Solar Cells.

Partnerships & collaborations

Our Industrial Partners and Associate Partners ensure that the training and technology is economically feasible.

EU support

The EEC is constructively investing more than 3.9 M€ in Establis to train, research and collaborate at the highest international level and ensure our energy platform for the 21st century.

Previous Next

Scientific results

3rd Young researchers meet at the IMDEA Nanociencia - Tracing oxygen induced degradation in P3HT : PCBM films: A time domain study

Tracing oxygen induced degradation in P3HT : PCBM films: A time domain study

by Safakath Karuthedath1, Reinhold Wannemacher1, Larry Lüer1

 1 Optical Spectroscopy and Microscopy of Nanostructured Materials, IMDEA Nanociencia, C/ Faraday, 9, 28049 Cantoblanco (Madrid), Spain. 

Oral Presentation at 3rd Young researchers meet at the IMDEA Nanociencia, Madrid, Spain [June 2013]

Organic solar cells (OSC) consume less energy during production than inorganic solar cells. Further advantages of OSC are transparency, flexibility and colour tunability, making them apt for new markets like, consumer product integration. However, the stability of OSC against photodegradation must substantially be enhanced to enter these markets. In OSC based on poly(3-hexylthio-phene) (P3HT)and[6,6]-phenylC61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM),a slight chemical degradation (2% ground state absorption loss) can cause more than 70% reduction in photocurrent generation[1]. In order to reduce degradation-induced performance losses, it is important to understand how the elementary processes of organic photovoltaics are influenced by photodegradation. Here, we present a time-resolved transient absorption study covering the relevant time scale from femtoseconds to milliseconds, comparing samples at different states of photodegradation.

Our results indicate that charge recombination in the P3HT : PCBM OSC is strongly retarded by photodegradation (Fig.1.a), pointing to a substantial reduction of the effective mobility. On the other hand, charge generation is not influenced significantly by weak levels of photodegradation (Fig.1.b).

 Figure 1. Transient absorption traces at 975nm for different degradation states. (a) Decay traces (b) Generation rate for P3HT:PCBM solar cells.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

1) F. Deschler, A. De Sio, E. von Hauff, P. Kutka, T. Sauermann, H. -J. Egelhaff, J. Hauch E. Da Camo, Adv.Funct. Matet.2012,22,1461-1469