Organic Solar cells for space application

Abstract

Even though organic solar cells' lightweight, flexible, and low cost fabrication are important factors for space applications, their remarkable 20% performance opens the door for them to compete with perovskite and silicon solar cells as potential satellite power source. Considering the harsh environment in space, the next reasonable question is how well organic solar cells will function therein. At this time, no comprehensive study of organic solar cells has been conducted to identify potential areas of device physics and material features that could be compromised when exposed to irradiation. This dissertation comprises three investigations that integrate approaches to elucidate a comprehensive analysis of the device physics of state-of-the-art organic semiconductor devices in harsh space environments. To be specific, this thesis offers an in-depth analysis of the fundamental device physics mechanisms in organic solar cells (OSCs) across different structural configurations under irradiation. It focuses on: i) the impact of photoactive layer thickness on charge generation, extraction, and recombination processes under proton irradiation; ii) the recovery mechanism in post-annealed devices; iii) the radiation resistance of different architectures of OSCs; iv) the extent of degradation in the functional layers of OSCs when exposed to proton irradiation; and v) the impact of the substrate on TiN thin film’s properties under electron irradiation.