New insights into polymer solar cells stability: The crucial role of PCBM oxidation

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INVITED ARTICLE New insights into polymer solar cells stability: The crucial role of PCBM oxidation Anthony Perthué CNRS, SIGMA Clermont, Institut de Chimie de Clermont-Ferrand, Université Clermont Auvergne, Clermont– Ferrand F-63000, France

Thérèse Gorisse IMS, CNRS, UMR 5218, Bordeaux INP, ENSCBP, Universite de Bordeaux, Talence F-33405, France

Hugo Santos Silva CNRS/Universite de Pau & Pays Adour, Institut des Sciences Analytiques et de Physico-Chimie pour l’Environnement et les Matériaux – IPREM, UMR 5254, Pau 64000, France

Christian Lombard Université Grenoble Alpes, INAC-SPRAM, Grenoble F-38000, France; CNRS, INAC-SPRAM, Grenoble F-38000, France; and CEA, INAC-SPRAM, Grenoble F-38000, France

Didier Bégué CNRS/Universite de Pau & Pays Adour, Institut des Sciences Analytiques et de Physico-Chimie pour l’Environnement et les Matériaux – IPREM, UMR 5254, Pau 64000, France

Piétrick Hudhomme MOLTECH-Anjou, Université d’Angers, Angers F-49045, France

Brigitte Pépin-Donat Université Grenoble Alpes, INAC-SPRAM, Grenoble F-38000, France; CNRS, INAC-SPRAM, Grenoble F-38000, France; and CEA, INAC-SPRAM, Grenoble F-38000, France

Agnès Rivatona) CNRS, SIGMA Clermont, Institut de Chimie de Clermont-Ferrand, Université Clermont Auvergne, Clermont– Ferrand F-63000, France

Guillaume Wantzb) IMS, CNRS, UMR 5218, Bordeaux INP, ENSCBP, Universite de Bordeaux, Talence F-33405, France (Received 22 December 2017; accepted 23 April 2018)

Fullerene derivatives have been ubiquitous as an electron-accepting material in organic photovoltaic solar cells (OSCs). We consider whether and why traces of PCBM oxidation products should be seen as electronic defects impairing the performance of OSCs. Thin PCBM deposits were first illuminated under ambient air for a few minutes, thus revealing the extraordinary easiness of oxidizing PCBM. The charge transfer in polymer:PCBMox bulk heterojunctions was then studied. As a result of a few minutes of PCBM photooxidation, the electron transfer from the polymer to two types of PCBMox species was shown to occur at the expense of the transfer to pristine PCBM. Such modifications to the molecular structure of PCBM and to the charge transfer at the nanoscale were finally correlated with a dramatic loss in the device’s photovoltaic performance at the macroscale. This study clearly indicates the need to integrate photooxidationresistant electron-accepting materials into OSCs to extend their lifetime.

I. INTRODUCTION

Address all correspondence to these authors. a) e-mail: [email protected] b) e-mail: [email protected] DOI: 10.1557/jmr.2018.141

a satisfying power conversion efficiency (PCE), a proven, cost-effective manufacturing setup, and a sufficiently long module lifetime under operating conditions. While the PCE threshold of 10% has been exceeded, the stability of devices is not yet ensured.1–3 The decay of photovoltaic performance under operating conditions is usually due to the combined action of sequential and interrelated mechanisms taking place at different locations in the device and