Degradation Studies of Organic Solar Cells

Dr Chhinder Bilen

Degradation Behaviours of Organic Solar Cells

My work centres on experimental methods of determining the degradation behaviour of different OPV devices with both standard and inverted geometry. These studies include different electrode materials and different annealing conditions when making the devices. The degradation behaviour of the solar cells depends on the light intensities utilized and the temperature and cell geometric patterns. The main aim of my work is to produce the highest efficiency cells with the slowest degradation.

Barrier Film Characterisation

Organic solar cell showing photo bleaching without protectionWe have used different protective films and laminates to increase the stability of the organic solar cells under normal degradation conditions. We have been able to increase the half-life from a few hours to 14 days in some of the cells tested. More progress needs to be made with high protection laminate structures to increase the cells stability to 2-3 years.