A Critical Review on Efficient Thick-Film Organic Solar Cells

To date, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of lab-scale organic solar cells (OSCs) has exceeded 17%, which heralds the bright future for commercial applications of OSCs. High-performance OSCs with thick active layers are essential for large-scale production. First, the relatively thick active layers should be more compatible with the roll-to-roll (R2R) large-area processing, which is conducive to forming uniform and defect-free active layers in the process of high-speed, mass production. Second, the thick active layers can absorb more incident light in their spectral range, which helps thick-film OSCs to obtain relatively high short-circuit current density (J(SC)). So far, relatively little attention has been paid to thick-film OSCs, and the PCE of thick-film OSCs lags far behind its thin-film analogues. Herein, the recent development of thick-film OSCs is highlighted and the critical limit factors on the PCE of thick-film OSCs are pointed out. Some strategies are highlighted to improve the efficiency of thick-film OSCs. This review study will be helpful to the researchers engaging in the development of efficient thick-film OSCs.