Lamination as a modular approach for building organic photosensitive devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9040318-B2
Application number	US-201113083220-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 8, 2011
Priority date	Apr 9, 2010
Publication date	May 26, 2015
Grant date	May 26, 2015

Abstract

There is disclosed a modular lamination approach for processing organic photosensitive devices that allows the individual processing of device components, that once processed are brought together in a final step to make electrical contact. The disclosed method of preparing a laminated photosensitive device having at least one donor-acceptor heterojunction comprises: preparing a top electrode by depositing a functional material on a flexible substrate, such as an elastomer; optionally processing the functional material to obtain desired properties prior to lamination; preparing a bottom portion by depositing a second functional material over a substrate; optionally processing the second functional material to obtain desired properties prior to lamination; and coupling the top electrode to said bottom portion to form a laminated photosensitive device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for preparing a laminated organic photosensitive device having at least one photoactive donor-acceptor heterojunction, the method comprising:
preparing an organic first portion comprising a first electrode by depositing at least one organic functional material directly onto a flexible substrate, a portion of the flexible substrate being treated to provide a deposition surface, the deposition surface being treated by exposing the portion of the flexible substrate to UV/ozone, the first electrode being deposited on the deposition surface;
preparing an organic second portion over a second substrate, the organic second portion comprising at least one of a second electrode, an additional organic functional material, or both;
wherein at least one processing step is performed on at least one of the first organic functional material, and the second organic portion to obtain desired properties prior to lamination; and
laminating the first organic portion to the organic second portion to form a laminated organic solar cell.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the flexible substrate of the organic first portion comprises an elastomer.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the first and second electrodes comprises a metal chosen from Ti, Au, Al, and Ag, a metal oxide, a conducting polymer, a carbon nanotube containing material, or mixtures thereof.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second portion further comprises ITO on a glass or plastic substrate, wherein the substrate has been treated with UV/Ozone.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one second functional material comprises a photoactive donor-acceptor heterojunction comprised of small molecule materials, polymer materials, or mixtures thereof.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the laminating is performed such that the interface between the first portion and the second portion is substantially free of air bubbles.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the laminating is performed under ambient temperature with or without extraneous heat and/or pressure.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the laminating is performed by annealing the second functional material at an appropriate temperature followed by lamination with the first electrode.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the processing of the at least one functional material or at least one second functional material comprises a process chosen from thermal annealing and exposure to solvent vapors.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least two photoactive donor-acceptor heterojunctions are formed and wherein one of the first or second functional materials comprises a charge transfer layer, a charge recombination layer or a third electrode and connects the at least two photoactive donor-acceptor heterojunctions to form a tandem organic solar cell.

11. The method of claim 2 , wherein the elastomer comprises polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS).

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the PDMS is in the form of a pad that is prepared by mixing a PDMS prepolymer and a curing agent.

13. The method of claim 5 , wherein the second functional material comprises poly(3-hexylthiophene), [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester, and poly{[n,n′-bis(2-octyldodecyl)-naphthalene-1,4,5,8-bis(dicarboximide)-2,6-diyl]-alt-5,5′-(2,2′-bithiophene)}, or mixtures thereof, and wherein the second functional material is deposited over a titanium electron transport layer.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the second functional material comprises poly(3-hexylthiophene)/[6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester and poly(3-hexylthiophene)/poly{[n,n′-bis(2-octyldodecyl)-naphthale-ne-1,4,5,8-bis(dicarboximide)-2,6-diyl]-alt-5,5-(2,2′-bithiophene)}.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising electrical contacts chosen from Ag or Au.

16. A method for preparing a laminated organic photosensitive device, the method comprising at least one photoactive donor-acceptor heterojunction comprising:
providing a first substrate comprising an elastomeric material;
depositing at least one conducting material directly onto the elastomeric material to form a first organic portion comprising at least one first electrode, at least a portion of the first substrate being treated to provide a deposition surface, the deposition surface being treated by exposing the portion of the first substrate to UV/ozone, the first electrode being deposited on the deposition surface;
providing a second substrate;
depositing at least one functional material on the second substrate to form a second organic portion;
optionally processing the second organic portion with at least one pre-lamination step; and
laminating the first organic portion with the second organic portion to form an organic solar cell.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the laminating is performed under ambient temperature with or without extraneous pressure.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein the elastomer comprises polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS).

19. The method of claim 16 , wherein the at least one conducting material comprises a metal chosen from Ti, Au, Al, and Ag, a metal oxide, a conducting polymer, a carbon nanotube containing material, or mixtures thereof.

20. The method of claim 16 , wherein the at least one conducting material comprises indium tin oxide.

21. The method of claim 16 , wherein the at least one functional material comprises small molecules, polymers, or mixtures thereof.

22. The method of claim 16 , further comprising optional processing of the first portion and/or the second portion by thermal annealing, exposure to solvent vapors, or combinations thereof.

23. The method of claim 21 , wherein the donor-acceptor heterojunction comprises:
poly(3-hexylthiophene)/[6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester;
poly(3-hexylthiophene)/poly{[n,n′-bis(2-octyldodecyl)-naphthalene-1,4,5,8-bis(dicarboximide)-2,6-diyl]-alt-5,5′-(2,2′-bithiophene)}; or
combinations thereof.

24. A method for preparing a laminated organic photosensitive device comprising at least one photoactive donor-acceptor heterojunction, the method comprising,
preparing a first organic portion, the method comprising:
providing a PDMS substrate prepared from mixing PDMS pre-polymer and a curing agent;
exposing the PDMS substrate to UV/ozone to provide a deposition surface;
depositing at least one conducting material chosen from Ti and Au directly onto the deposition surface;
preparing a second organic portion comprising:
poly(3-hexylthiophene)/[6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester or
poly(3-hexylthiophene)/poly{[n,n′-bis(2-octyldodecyl)-naphthalen-e-1,4,5,8-bis(dicarboximide)-2,6-diyl]-alt-5,5′-(2,2′-bithiophene)}, and electrical contacts chosen from Ag or Au; and

coupling the PDMS pad of the first portion with the second portion under ambient temperature with or without extraneous pressure, wherein the coupling is performed such that the interface between the PDMS pad and the second portion is substantially free from air bubbles forming an organic solar cell.

25. A method for preparing a tandem photosensitive device, the method comprising: preparing at least one first photosensitive device comprising:
preparing at least one first photosensitive device comprising, providing a first substrate comprising an elastomeric material;
depositing at least one conducting material on the elastomeric material to form a first portion comprising a first electrode, a portion of

Assignees

• Loo Yueh-Lin
• Kim Jong Bok
• Univ Princeton

Inventors

• Loo Yueh-Lin
• Kim Jong Bok

Classifications

• H10K30/50

  Photovoltaic [PV] devices · CPC title

• H10K71/50

  Forming devices by joining two substrates together, e.g. lamination techniques · CPC title

• H01L51/0047

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01L51/0036

  Electricity · mapped topic

• Y02E10/549

  Organic PV cells · CPC title