Exploring Slot-Die Coating for Large Area Fullerene-Free Organic Photovoltaics

Organic photovoltaics stands as one of the most promising clean energy technologies. However, its commercial availability is a challenge that has not yet been overcome. To improve the cost effectiveness of the organic solar cell active layer, our group has recently developed a series of N-annulated perylene diimide (PDI) derivatives acting as electron acceptors, one of these is today commercially available. [1] These resulting fullerene-free photovoltaic devices present a high power conversion efficiency, making them a viable alternative to the more traditional fullerene-containing solar cells. [2,3] Considering that these molecules can be mass-produced, they are excellent candidates for the coating of large area solar cells. Herein, we present the structure-property relationship of these materials, along with their utility as electron acceptors in bulk heterojunction organic photovoltaic. We also discuss the preliminary upscaling results of our efforts towards coating large-scale organic solar cells.