@article{VollbrechtTokmoldinSunetal.2022, author = {Vollbrecht, Joachim and Tokmoldin, Nurlan and Sun, Bowen and Brus, Viktor V. and Shoaee, Safa and Neher, Dieter}, title = {Determination of the charge carrier density in organic solar cells}, series = {Journal of applied physics}, volume = {131}, journal = {Journal of applied physics}, number = {22}, publisher = {American Institute of Physics}, address = {Melville, NY}, issn = {0021-8979}, doi = {10.1063/5.0094955}, pages = {18}, year = {2022}, abstract = {The increase in the performance of organic solar cells observed over the past few years has reinvigorated the search for a deeper understanding of the loss and extraction processes in this class of device. A detailed knowledge of the density of free charge carriers under different operating conditions and illumination intensities is a prerequisite to quantify the recombination and extraction dynamics. Differential charging techniques are a promising approach to experimentally obtain the charge carrier density under the aforementioned conditions. In particular, the combination of transient photovoltage and photocurrent as well as impedance and capacitance spectroscopy have been successfully used in past studies to determine the charge carrier density of organic solar cells. In this Tutorial, these experimental techniques will be discussed in detail, highlighting fundamental principles, practical considerations, necessary corrections, advantages, drawbacks, and ultimately their limitations. Relevant references introducing more advanced concepts will be provided as well. Therefore, the present Tutorial might act as an introduction and guideline aimed at new prospective users of these techniques as well as a point of reference for more experienced researchers. Published under an exclusive license by AIP Publishing.}, language = {en} } @article{RanLoveHeiberetal.2018, author = {Ran, Niva A. and Love, John A. and Heiber, Michael C. and Jiao, Xuechen and Hughes, Michael P. and Karki, Akchheta and Wang, Ming and Brus, Viktor V. and Wang, Hengbin and Neher, Dieter and Ade, Harald and Bazan, Guillermo C. and Thuc-Quyen Nguyen,}, title = {Charge generation and recombination in an organic solar cell with low energetic offsets}, series = {dvanced energy materials}, volume = {8}, journal = {dvanced energy materials}, number = {5}, publisher = {Wiley-VCH}, address = {Weinheim}, issn = {1614-6832}, doi = {10.1002/aenm.201701073}, pages = {12}, year = {2018}, abstract = {Organic bulk heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells require energetic offsets between the donor and acceptor to obtain high short-circuit currents (J(SC)) and fill factors (FF). However, it is necessary to reduce the energetic offsets to achieve high open-circuit voltages (V-OC). Recently, reports have highlighted BHJ blends that are pushing at the accepted limits of energetic offsets necessary for high efficiency. Unfortunately, most of these BHJs have modest FF values. How the energetic offset impacts the solar cell characteristics thus remains poorly understood. Here, a comprehensive characterization of the losses in a polymer:fullerene BHJ blend, PIPCP:phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PC61BM), that achieves a high V-OC (0.9 V) with very low energy losses (E-loss = 0.52 eV) from the energy of absorbed photons, a respectable J(SC) (13 mA cm(-2)), but a limited FF (54\%) is reported. Despite the low energetic offset, the system does not suffer from field-dependent generation and instead it is characterized by very fast nongeminate recombination and the presence of shallow traps. The charge-carrier losses are attributed to suboptimal morphology due to high miscibility between PIPCP and PC61BM. These results hold promise that given the appropriate morphology, the J(SC), V-OC, and FF can all be improved, even with very low energetic offsets.}, language = {en} }