Dissolvable photovoltaic cells on hydrogel

Li, Benxuan, Zhan, Shijie, Li, Zhe, Ming, Wenlong ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1780-7292, Amaratunga, Gehan A. J. and Hou, Bo ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9918-8223 2024. Dissolvable photovoltaic cells on hydrogel. APL Materials 12 (6) , 061102. 10.1063/5.0197820

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Abstract

Solar energy is potentially the largest source of renewable energy for providing electrical power for human society. However, significant advances are required to make photovoltaic technologies have a low-carbon footprint in manufacture, be environmentally friendly at the end of their lives through recyclability, and be biodegradable. Here we report dissolvable organic photovoltaic devices based on poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate), which show equal power conversion efficiency to their glass substrate-based counterparts. We use a novel method of including smectic liquid crystal (7-dioctyl[1]benzothieno[3,2- b][1]benzothiophene, C8-BTBT) as a crystal phase regulator in the heterojunction donor:acceptor polymer system to maintain the disposable organic solar cell efficiency without pre- or post-thermal annealing. The results show strong promise not only for more sustainable solar-cell fabrication but also as disposable and biocompatible solar cells for self-powered (energy harvesting) wearable and biomedical devices.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Schools > Physics and Astronomy
Publisher:	American Institute of Physics
ISSN:	2166-532X
Funders:	EPSRC
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	16 May 2024
Date of Acceptance:	6 May 2024
Last Modified:	19 Jul 2025 01:50
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/168978

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