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Title:	Circumventing UV light induced nano-morphology disorder to achieve long lifetime PTB7-Th:PCBM based solar cells
Author:	Liu, Quan; Toudert, Johann; Liu, Feng; Mantilla-Perez, Paola; Montes Bajo, Miguel; Russell, Thomas P.; Martorell, Jordi
Other authors:	Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. Institut de Ciències Fotòniques
Abstract:	Large area flexible electronics rely on organic or hybrid materials prone to degradation limiting the device lifetime. For many years, photo-oxidation has been thought to be one of the major degradation pathways. However, intense illumination may lead to a burn-in or a rapid decrease in performance for devices completely isolated from corrosive elements as oxygen or moisture. The experimental studies we present in here indicate that a plausible triggering for the burn-in is a spin flip after a UV photon absorption leading to the accumulation of electrostatic potential energy that initiates a rapid destruction of the nano-morpholgy in the fullerene phase of a polymer cell. To circumvent this and achieve highly stable and efficient devices, we induce a robust nano-crystalline ordering in the PCBM phase prior to UV illumination. In that event, PTB7-Th:PC71BM cells are shown to exhibit T80 lifetimes larger than 1.6 years under a continuous UV-filtered 1-sun illumination, equivalent to 7 years for sunlight harvesting at optimal orientation and 10 years for vertical applications.
Abstract:	Peer Reviewed
Subject(s):	-Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Física -Solar cells -solar cells -Cèl·lules solars
Rights:	Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Spain http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/es/
Document type:	Article - Submitted version Article
Published by:	Wiley
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