Abstract
Cobalt ferrite (CoFe2O4) nanoparticles (NPs), with an average diameter
of about 4-10 nm, were produced by the proteic sol-gel method and
successfully doped into the active layer of
poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) (P3HT): 6,6-phenyl-C61-butyric acid
methyl ester (PCBM) organic solar cells. Pristine and CoFe2O4 NPs-doped
blends of P3HT:PCBM were dispersed in a mixture of o-xylene:tetralin (1
mg/mL) based non-halogenated solvents and deposited via a
semi-industrial blade coating process on flexible substrates to
fabricate large area (0.55 cm(2)), flexible organic solar cells with
inverted configuration. The main focus of this study aims to assess the
influence of NPs on the efficiency, stability and lifetime of the
produced devices. From the photovoltaic parameters it was observed that
the optimization of the bulk-heterojunction through the incorporation of
CoFe2O4 NPs resulted in increased short-circuit current density. As a
result, the power conversion efficiency of doped devices increased by 10
% when compared with the undoped reference devices. Tests of lifetime
and stability were performed using International Summit on OPV Stability
(ISOS) protocols ISOS-D-3, ISOS-0-1 and ISOS-L-1. For the duration of
the tests (1200 h), the results showed that doped cells presented
performances at least comparable with those of reference cells.
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