Enabling the scalable and cheap production of efficient and stable organic-based photovoltaic technology realized via printing techniques, for electricity generation

Project Information

LABandFAB

Grant agreement ID: 838179

DOI

10.3030/838179

Project terminated on 15 September 2022

EC signature date 16 April 2019

Start date 4 January 2021

End date 3 January 2023

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 171 473,28

EU contribution

€ 171 473,28

Coordinated by

ENI SPA
Italy

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - LABandFAB (Enabling the scalable and cheap production of efficient and stable organic-based photovoltaic technology realized via printing techniques, for electricity generation)

Reporting period: 2021-01-04 to 2023-01-03

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The reduction of greenhouse emissions is presently acknowledged as a major European objective, and by 2040 a 40% emissions cut is expected, with renewable sources contributing up to 27%. Moreover, the current global energy scenario – threatened by potential shortages and steep and sudden price rises - makes the search for alternative (and complementary) renewable energy sources an absolute priority.
In this respect, LAB&FAB aimed at developing the fabrication of efficient, cheap and stable organic photovoltaic (OPV) technology, with the potential of being scalable and eventually transferred from a lab-environment to production line.
The LAB&FAB project pursued its main objectives on the two parallel fronts. From the one side, LAB&FAB exploited state-of-the art OPV to push its efficiency, while working on lifetime. Long-term stability tests were carried out on specific device structures to allow for durability assessments, and for an understanding of the best materials compatibilities enhancing the cell’s stability. Both proprietary as well as commercial materials were tested. Efforts were dedicated also to the development of an efficient encapsulation process, able to protect the device performance, without altering it.
At the lab scale instead, novel and efficient materials were systematically explored, characterized and optimized for their subsequent integration into solar cells large-area production. The device fabrication itself was object of thorough exploration, in view of the general scalability principle laying behind OPV industrialization. Besides the actual fabrication used to test and characterize new materials/structures, alternative (and more energy/time saving) predicting approaches were also explored and based on the materials miscibility, as well as on quantum-mechanical based simulations of the materials chemical properties.
The LAB&FAB project objectives, dealing with the in-depth characterizations of a series of different donor/acceptor materials for organic photovoltaic applications, as well as with various technologically-based challenges related to the OPV technology upscale, are well aligned with the more general energy transition scenario towards a low-carbon concept, endorsed by the European Green Deal.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Typical OPV structures fabricated at the Host institution and incorporating both proprietary as well as commercial polymers in their Photo Active Layer (PAL), were monitored and tested under various degradation protocols. These lifetime experiments are crucial, as they can assess the proprietary materials with respect to their commercial counterparts. Results derived from OPV lifetime tests have been especially important for the Host, as the materials/product durability is an essential parameter to control for a private enterprise with market exploitation ambition. The outcomes of such analyses have been used to both feed the internal work team in charge of the proprietary materials design, synthesis and development, as well as to contribute to scientific publications.
Part of the work was dedicated to the replacement of certain evaporated OPV thin films with blade-coated alternatives. Switching from an evaporation process to an air-deposited and scalable one - like blade-coating - is a fundamental step towards the adoption of more industrially compatible processes for the OPV technology production. The know-how acquired and built-up during the project development around the use of blade coating technique, has now became integral part of the new Host expertise.
In addition to the actual solar cells fabrication used to analyze the different materials combinations and their compatibility in a complete device, other screening methods based on contact angle analysis of isolated materials - and the subsequent extrapolation of the Flory-Huggins Parameter for the donor:acceptor couples - were also explored. In parallel, quantum-mechanics-based simulations helped confirm the goodness of such prediction method for the determination of the optimal PAL mixture compatibility. In order to address toxicity - a serious limitation to the real OPV large-scale industrial production and commercialization - preference was always given to the exploration and of non-halogenated solvents. Preliminary results on the application of such predictive methods to determine materials compatibility, were presented at the Hybrid and Organic PhotoVoltaics (HOPV) 2022 conference in Valencia, Spain.
Efforts were also dedicated to the writing of another manuscript (a meta-analysis currently under review in Advanced Materials - adma.202210146) which addresses the non-trivial topic of the PAL thickness impact of polymer solar cells, from an industrial fabrication perspective.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Under LAB&FAB project, progresses were achieved both for the benefit of the scientific and societal community, as well as for the benefit of the Host.
The work around LAB&FAB project produced two scientific papers – one already published in Solar RRL (IF: 9.173) and another one currently under review in Advanced Materials (IF: 32.09) – plus one poster contribution to HOPV 2022 conference. From the Host institution side, an advancement was also reached by developing new and more scalable fabrication techniques for OPV. As well, new inputs were given for the screening of possible couples of OPV materials, before going into the actual device fabrication. Developing predicting methods to screen materials, while saving time and energy (i.e. money) at the same time, is especially valuable for a private enterprise with market exploitation ambition.
The Conferences attended and the paper(s) published allowed for a constructive interplay between the Host and the Researcher, and the scientific community. As well, the dissemination activities the Researcher took part in reached the civil society at different levels. Awareness around the need for renewable energy was risen, the environmental impact as well as the potential energy production capability of different energy sources was discussed in public, and the research work typically performed in the lab was described to the young generations during on-line and in-person events. All the outreach activities undertaken to disseminate the project results may still have a positive impact also beyond the duration of the events themselves. For all this, we believe that our efforts enabled significant improvements in the common understanding of the “organic photovoltaics” concepts, and in the importance of developing a solid technology around them.