High performance organic photovoltaic cells with blade-coated active layers

High performance bulk heterojunction organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells with blade-coated active layers of POD2T-DTBT blended with [6,6]-phenyl-C71-butyric acid methyl ester (PC71BM) are demonstrated in this work. The blade-coated cells exhibit power conversion efficiencies of up to 6.74%, which is comparable to those of conventional spincoated cells but obtained with just a fraction of the material amount used for spincoating. The choice of solvent and the process conditions are manipulated to achieve dense, well-separated morphology which increases the interfacial area for charge dissociation in the blend film. The blade coating technique can be applied in the fabrication of large area, high performance OPV cells with highly efficient materials usage. High performance bulk heterojunction organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells with blade-coated active layers are demonstrated. The choice of solvent and the process conditions are manipulated to achieve dense, well-separated morphology in the blend film. High power conversion efficiencies of 6.74%, comparable to those of conventional spincoated cells, are obtained due to the increased interfacial area for charge dissociation. [Display omitted] ► Blade coating produces large-area active layers with efficient materials usage. ► The solvent and coating conditions are chosen to optimize the morphology. ► A large interfacial area for charge dissociation yields high device current. ► High cell efficiency obtained is on par with that obtained by spincoating.