Journal
SOLAR RRL
Volume 6, Issue 6, Pages -Publisher
WILEY-V C H VERLAG GMBH
DOI: 10.1002/solr.202101037
Keywords
organic photovoltaics; proton bombardment; space
Funding
- Airbus Endeavr Wales
- SPECIFIC Innovation and Knowledge Centre by the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council [EP/N020863/1]
- Innovate UK [920036]
- European Regional Development Fund through the Welsh Government [c80892]
- EPSRC [EP/L016702/1]
- Imperial College High Performance Computing Service
- UK EPSRC ATIP Programme Grant [EP/T028513/1]
- Global Research Laboratory Program of the National Research Foundation (NRF) - Ministry of Science, ICT & Future Planning [NRF-2017K1A1A2 013153]
- Welsh European Funding Office (SPARC II)
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Recent developments of solution-processed bulk-heterojunction organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells have demonstrated high power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) up to 18% for single-junction devices. Despite a drop in performance, the retaining percentage of the performance is higher than the current market-dominating space PV technology, showing a high potential of OPV cells for space applications.
Recent developments of solution-processed bulk-heterojunction organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells have demonstrated power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) as high as 18% for single-junction devices. Such a high PCE in addition to its desirable lightweight property and high mechanical flexibility can realize high specific power and small stowed volume, which are key considerations when choosing PV for space missions. To take one important step forward, their resilience to ionizing radiation should be well studied. Herein, the effect of proton irradiation at various fluences on the performance of benchmark OPV cells is explored under AM0 illumination. The remaining device performance is found to decrease with increasing proton fluence, which correlates to changes in electrical and chemical properties of the active layer. By redissolving the devices, the solubility of the active layer is found to decrease with increasing proton fluence, suggesting that the active materials are likely cross-linked. Additionally, Raman studies reveal conformational changes of the polymer leading to a higher degree of energetic disorder. Despite a drop in performance, the retaining percentage of the performance is indeed higher than the current market-dominating space PV technology-III-V semiconductor-based PV, demonstrating a high potential of the OPV cell as a candidate for space applications.
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