Integration of spinel ferrite magnetic nanoparticles into organic solar cells: a review

Organic solar cells (OSCs) have captured significant attention in both academic and industrial circles for their advantageous characteristics, including low manufacturing costs, lightweight, flexibility, ease of fabrication, quick energy payback time, and minimal environmental impact. However, a major obstacle to their widespread adoption is the significant loss of efficiency that occurs during energy conversion, with approximately half of this loss attributed to the recombination of photo-generated charge carriers within OSCs and the low mobility of organic materials. Despite extensive research in this area, the fundamental issue of energy loss during the photovoltaic harvesting process remains unclear. To address these challenges, we investigated the potential of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) to improve OSC morphology, inhibit recombination, and enhance charge carrier collection. The incorporation of MNPs led to a substantial increase in short-circuit current density and fill factor, resulting in a significant boost in power conversion efficiency. To evaluate the current state of knowledge in this area, this review highlights the significant contributions of previous studies and includes a comprehensive analysis of all available research.

Automated summary

Organic solar cells (OSCs) have attracted attention for their advantageous characteristics, but efficiency loss during energy conversion remains a challenge. Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) have been investigated to improve OSC morphology and enhance charge carrier collection. The incorporation of MNPs leads to increased current density and fill factor, resulting in improved power conversion efficiency.