Recently developed organic photovoltaics (OPVs) show distinct advantages over their inorganic counterparts due to their lighter weight, flexible shape, versatile materials synthesis and device fabrication schemes, and low cost in large-scale industrial production. Although many books currently exist on general concepts of PV and inorganic PV materials and devices, few are available that offer a comprehensive overview of recently fast developing organic and polymeric PV materials and devices. Organic Photovoltaics: Mechanisms, Materials, and Devices fills this gap. The book provides an international perspective on the latest research in this rapidly expanding field with contributions from top experts around the world. It presents a unified approach comprising three sections: General Overviews; Mechanisms and Modeling; and Materials and Devices. Discussions include sunlight capture, exciton diffusion and dissociation, interface properties, charge recombination and migration, and a variety of currently developing OPV materials/devices. The book also includes two forewords: one by Nobel Laureate Dr. Alan J. Heeger, and the other by Drs. Aloysius Hepp and Sheila Bailey of NASA Glenn Research Center. Organic Photovoltaics equips students, researchers, and engineers with knowledge of the mechanisms, materials, devices, and applications of OPVs necessary to develop cheaper, lighter, and cleaner renewable energy throughout the coming decades.

The present volume describes and explains the fundamentals of organic/plastic solar cells in a manner accessible to both researchers and students. It provides an up-to-date and comprehensive account of these materials and corresponding devices, which will play a key role in future solar energy systems.

Providing complementary viewpoints from academia as well as technology companies, this book covers the three most important aspects of successful device design: materials, device physics, and manufacturing technologies. It also offers an insight into commercialization concerns, such as packaging technologies, system integration, reel-to-reel large scale manufacturing issues and production costs. With an introduction by Nobel Laureate Alan Heeger.

A major global issue that the world is facing today is the upcoming depletion of fossil fuels and the energy crisis. In 1998, the global annual energy consumption was 12. 7 TW; of which 80% was generated from fossil fuels. This also translates into huge annual emissions of CO that leads to massive environmental problems, 2 particularly the global warming, which could be disastrous. Future global annual energy needs are also estimated to rise dramatically. A major challenge confronting the world is to ?nd an additional 14–20 TW by 2050 when our energy reserves based on fossil fuels are vanishing. The massive demand for energy would require materials and/or processes that would help to provide new sources of clean ren- able energy or to develop processes that would harvest energy or to better utilize energy in an ef?cient manner. The present monograph, WOLEDs and Organic Photovoltaics – Recent Advances and Applications, focuses on a very important and timely subject of topical interest that deals with the more ef?cient use of energy through white organic light-emitting diodes (WOLEDs) for solid-state lighting and the development of clean sources of renewable energy through the harvesting of light energy for conversion into electrical energy in organic photovoltaics. While LED solid-state lighting and photovoltaics have been dominated by inorganic semiconductor materials and silicon-based solar cells, there have been growing interests in the development of WOLEDs and organic photovoltaics.

This book reports on the design, synthesis and characterization of new small molecule electron acceptors for polymer solar cells. Starting with a detailed introduction to the science behind polymer solar cells, the author then goes on to review the challenges and advances made in developing non-fullerene acceptors so far. In the main body of the book, the author describes the design principles and synthetic strategy for a new family of acceptors, including detailed synthetic procedures and molecular modeling data used to predict physical properties. An indepth characterization of the photovoltaic performance, with transient absorption spectroscopy (TAS), photo-induced charge extraction, and grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXRD) is also included, and the author uses this data to relate material properties and device performance. This book provides a useful overview for researchers beginning a project in this or related areas.

This book explores why the properties of liquid crystals make them ideal for use in photovoltaic applications. It achieves this by presenting a description of the properties of liquid crystals and how their electronic properties compare to that of polymers used in organic photovoltaics. It explores how the type of liquid crystal chosen can help in improving the efficiency of the photovoltaics. It compares experimental and theoretical ways in which the efficiency is directly or indirectly estimated between the organic photovoltaics and the organic photovoltaics that contain a liquid crystal. It first introduces liquid crystals and their different varieties, before reviewing their electronic transfer properties and how they can improve efficiency. It is an ideal text for graduate students and young researches considering entering the area of photovoltaics - specifically, organic photovoltaics – who do not yet have knowledge of this field. Introduces the field of liquid crystals and provides basic information to those new to the field, in a concise and visual manner Describes which characteristics of a liquid crystal are most advantageous to use in photovoltaics Provides basic knowledge of photovoltaics for those who do not have previous knowledge of how they behave electronically

Recently developed organic photovoltaics (OPVs) show distinct advantages over their inorganic counterparts due to their lighter weight, flexible shape, versatile materials synthesis and device fabrication schemes, and low cost in large-scale industrial production. Although many books currently exist on general concepts of PV and inorganic PV materials and devices, few are available that offer a comprehensive overview of recently fast developing organic and polymeric PV materials and devices. Organic Photovoltaics: Mechanisms, Materials, and Devices fills this gap. The book provides an international perspective on the latest research in this rapidly expanding field with contributions from top experts around the world. It presents a unified approach comprising three sections: General Overviews; Mechanisms and Modeling; and Materials and Devices. Discussions include sunlight capture, exciton diffusion and dissociation, interface properties, charge recombination and migration, and a variety of currently developing OPV materials/devices. The book also includes two forewords: one by Nobel Laureate Dr. Alan J. Heeger, and the other by Drs. Aloysius Hepp and Sheila Bailey of NASA Glenn Research Center. Organic Photovoltaics equips students, researchers, and engineers with knowledge of the mechanisms, materials, devices, and applications of OPVs necessary to develop cheaper, lighter, and cleaner renewable energy throughout the coming decades.

This handbook opens with an overview of solar radiation and how its energy can be tapped using photovoltaic cells. Other chapters cover the technology, manufacture and application of PV cells in real situations. The book ends by exploring the economic and business aspects of PV systems.