@article{ZhangChenArminetal.2017,
  author    = {Zhang, Kai and Chen, Zhiming and Armin, Ardalan and Dong, Sheng and Xia, Ruoxi and Yip, Hin-Lap and Shoaee, Safa and Huang, Fei and Cao, Yong},
  title     = {Efficient large area organic solar cells processed by blade-coating with single-component green solvent},
  series = {Solar Rrl},
  volume    = {2},
  journal   = {Solar Rrl},
  number    = {1},
  publisher = {Wiley-VCH},
  address   = {Weinheim},
  issn      = {2367-198X},
  doi       = {10.1002/solr.201700169},
  pages     = {9},
  year      = {2017},
  abstract  = {While the performance of laboratory-scale organic solar cells (OSCs) continues to grow, development of high efficiency large area OSCs remains a big challenge. Although a few attempts to produce large area organic solar cells (OSCs) have been reported, there are still challenges on the way to realizing efficient module devices, such as the low compatibility of the thickness-sensitive active layer with large area coating techniques, the frequent need for toxic solvents and tedious optimization processes used during device fabrication. In this work, highly efficient thickness-insensitive OSCs based on PTB7-Th:PC71BM that processed with single-component green solvent 2-methylanisole are presented, in which both junction thickness limitation and solvent toxicity issues are simultaneously addressed. Careful investigation reveals that this green solvent prevents the evolution of PC71BM into large area clusters resulting in reduced charge carrier recombination, and largely eliminates trapping centers, and thus improves the thickness tolerance of the films. These findings enable us to address the scalability and solvent toxicity issues and to fabricate a 16 cm(2) OSC with doctor-blade coating with a state-of-the-art power conversion efficiency of 7.5\% using green solvent.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{ArminChenJinetal.2018,
  author    = {Armin, Ardalan and Chen, Zhiming and Jin, Yaocheng and Zhang, Kai and Huang, Fei and Shoaee, Safa},
  title     = {A Shockley-Type polymer},
  series = {Advanced energy materials},
  volume    = {8},
  journal   = {Advanced energy materials},
  number    = {7},
  publisher = {Wiley-VCH},
  address   = {Weinheim},
  issn      = {1614-6832},
  doi       = {10.1002/aenm.201701450},
  pages     = {9},
  year      = {2018},
  abstract  = {Charge extraction rate in solar cells made of blends of electron donating/accepting organic semiconductors is typically slow due to their low charge carrier mobility. This sets a limit on the active layer thickness and has hindered the industrialization of organic solar cells (OSCs). Herein, charge transport and recombination properties of an efficient polymer (NT812):fullerene blend are investigated. This system delivers power conversion efficiency of >9\% even when the junction thickness is as large as 800 nm. Experimental results indicate that this material system exhibits exceptionally low bimolecular recombination constant, 800 times smaller than the diffusion-controlled electron and hole encounter rate. Comparing theoretical results based on a recently introduced modified Shockley model for fill factor, and experiments, clarifies that charge collection is nearly ideal in these solar cells even when the thickness is several hundreds of nanometer. This is the first realization of high-efficiency Shockley-type organic solar cells with junction thicknesses suitable for scaling up.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{HosseiniRolandKurpiersetal.2019,
  author    = {Hosseini, Seyed Mehrdad and Roland, Steffen and Kurpiers, Jona and Chen, Zhiming and Zhang, Kai and Huang, Fei and Armin, Ardalan and Neher, Dieter and Shoaee, Safa},
  title     = {Impact of Bimolecular Recombination on the Fill Factor of Fullerene and Nonfullerene-Based Solar Cells},
  series = {The journal of physical chemistry : C, Nanomaterials and interfaces},
  volume    = {123},
  journal   = {The journal of physical chemistry : C, Nanomaterials and interfaces},
  number    = {11},
  publisher = {American Chemical Society},
  address   = {Washington},
  issn      = {1932-7447},
  doi       = {10.1021/acs.jpcc.8b11669},
  pages     = {6823 -- 6830},
  year      = {2019},
  abstract  = {Power conversion efficiencies of donor/acceptor organic solar cells utilizing nonfullerene acceptors have now increased beyond the record of their fullerene-based counterparts. There remain many fundamental questions regarding nanomorphology, interfacial states, charge generation and extraction, and losses in these systems. Herein, we present a comparative study of bulk heterojunction solar cells composed of a recently introduced naphthothiadiazole-based polymer (NT812) as the electron donor and two different acceptor molecules, namely, [6,6]-phenyl-C71-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM)[70] and 3,9-bis(2-methylene-(3-(1,1-dicyanomethylene)-indanone))-5,5,11,11-tetrakis(4-hexylphenyl)-dithieno[2,3-d:2′,3′-d′]-s-indaceno[1,2-b:5,6-b′]dithiophene (ITIC). A comparison between the photovoltaic performance of these two types of solar cells reveals that the open-circuit voltage (Voc) of the NT812:ITIC-based solar cell is larger, but the fill factor (FF) is lower than that of the NT812:PCBM[70] device. We find the key reason behind this reduced FF in the ITIC-based device to be faster nongeminate recombination relative to the NT812:PCBM[70] system.},
  language  = {en}
}