Organic Solar Cells at Stratospheric Condition for High Altitude Platform Station Application

Comprehensive Summary High specific power or power to mass ratio is a critical concern of photovoltaic (PV) for aerospace applications. Organic solar cells (OSCs) have advantages such as high absorption coefficient, compatibility with flexible substrate, light‐weight, etc. Moreover, recently OSCs achieved power conversion efficiency (PCE) over 20% with the incorporation of the non‐fullerene based small molecule acceptor and high specific power is believed to be obtained. To enter the market, high‐altitude platform station (HAPS) is perhaps the first place to start with. In this work, we explore and compare the in‐situ performance of two high performing OSCs, using the same donor but different acceptors, in mimic HAPS environment where the pressure, temperature and the illumination conditions are controlled. We found that the use of acceptor can result in substantial difference in the performance at low temperatures. With the increase in demand for cost‐effective and high specific power solar cells in the aerospace field, OSCs are obtaining a potential consideration. In aerospace, a high‐altitude platform station (HAPS) is an essential role for communication and surveillance purpose. Recent development in the performance and stability of organic solar cells (OSCs) has gained momentum in aerospace application. In this article, we demonstrated the state‐of‐the‐art organic molecule (PM6:Y6) based OSCs at mimic HAPS conditions. We also compared the OSCs behavior under the same conditions for PM6:IT‐4F devices.