Vincent 2018

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Accepted Manuscript

Indoor-type photovoltaics with organic solar cells through optimal design

Premkumar Vincent, Sang-Chul Shin, Ji Soo Goo, Young-Jun You, Boram Cho,
Suwoong Lee, Dong-Wook Lee, Se Ra Kwon, Kwun-Bum Chung, Jae-Joon Lee, Jin-
Hyuk Bae, Jae Won Shim, Hyeok Kim

PII: S0143-7208(18)30672-7
DOI: 10.1016/j.dyepig.2018.06.025
Reference: DYPI 6830

To appear in: Dyes and Pigments

Received Date: 26 March 2018


Revised Date: 29 May 2018
Accepted Date: 16 June 2018

Please cite this article as: Vincent P, Shin S-C, Goo JS, You Y-J, Cho B, Lee S, Lee D-W, Kwon SR,
Chung K-B, Lee J-J, Bae J-H, Shim JW, Kim H, Indoor-type photovoltaics with organic solar cells
through optimal design, Dyes and Pigments (2018), doi: 10.1016/j.dyepig.2018.06.025.

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ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
Indoor-type Photovoltaics with Organic Solar Cells through Optimal

Design

Premkumar Vincent1,+, Sang-Chul Shin2,+, Ji Soo Goo2, Young-Jun You2, Boram Cho3,

Suwoong Lee3, Dong-Wook Lee3, Se Ra Kwon4, Kwun-Bum Chung4, Jae-Joon Lee5, Jin-

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Hyuk Bae1*, Jae Won Shim2*, and Hyeok Kim6*
1
School of Electronics Engineering, Kyungpook National University, 80 Daehakro, Bukgu,

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Daegu, 702-701, Republic of Korea

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2
Research Center for Photoenergy Harvesting & Conversion Technology (PHCT), Division of

Electronics and Electrical Engineering, Dongguk University, Seoul 04620, Republic of Korea

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3
Korea Institute of Industrial Technology (KITECH), 320 Techno-sunhwanro, Yuga-myeon,
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Dalseong-gun, Daegu 42990, Republic of Korea
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Division of Physics and Semiconductor Science, Dongguk University, Seoul 100715,
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Republic of Korea
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Research Center for Photoenergy Harvesting & Conversion Technology (PHCT),
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Department of Energy & Materials Engineering, Dongguk University, Seoul, 04620,

Republic of Korea
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6
Department of Electrical Engineering, ERI, Gyeongsang National University, 501

Jinjudaero, Jinju, Gyeongnam 52828, Republic of KoreaEmail: jhbae@ee.knu.ac.kr,


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jwshim@dongguk.edu, hyeok.kim@gnu.ac.kr
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+ These authors equally contributed to this work

ABSTRACT:

Indoor solar cells are an attractive option to install in buildings to harvest the energy emitted

by indoor lighting. They can be implemented as a stand-alone grid, or as part of an integrated

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energy harvesting unit. Previous research has utilized amorphous silicon and dye-sensitized

solar cells for power generation from a fluorescent light source. In our study, we evaluated

the applicability of a poly(3-hexylthiophene):indene-C60 bisadduct solar cell to harvest the

light spectrum from an indoor light-emitting diode (LED). Because the absorption peak of

poly(3-hexylthiophene) overlaps the LED spectrum peak, it serves as a good candidate for

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indoor light harvesting under an LED source. We have extracted the power conversion

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efficiency of the solar cell under different LED illuminance values, such as 200, 800, 1000,

and 2000 lx. With the help of finite-difference time domain simulations, we optimized the

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solar device structure for each illuminance. The results detailed in this article were intended

to assess the applicability of organic solar cells as indoor photovoltaics, and to provide a

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methodology to optimize the photovoltaic structure to maximize its efficiency.
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Keywords: indoor photovoltaic, low-light harvesting, FDTD, P3HT:ICBA, optical
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modelling.
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1. INTRODUCTION

While it has been continuously researched to maximize the power harvested from the sun

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[1–8], there is limited investigation into harnessing the microwatt power output from indoor

lighting [9–13]. Microelectronic devices have a power demand in the microwatt range, and thus,

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indoor photovoltaics (IPVs) will be suitable for use in such micro-energy harvesting applications

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[10,14]. Hybrid energy harvesting methods may utilize IPV devices to power applications such

as wireless sensor nodes and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) [15–19]. Self-powering,

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micro-embedded systems require energy harvested from multiple environmental sources. IPVs
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have been used in such multi-harvesting systems to achieve, ideally, an unlimited energy supply

to the device.
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To the best of our knowledge, there are no standardized indoor lighting conditions similar
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to the AM1.5G spectrum (1000 W/m2). Indoor light can be comprised of only artificial lighting,
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or a mixture of natural and artificial lighting. The irradiance of the artificial indoor illumination

spectrum falls in the range of 0–1000 mW/m2 for the light emitting diode (LED) source used in
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this study. Some studies had used ray-tracing programs such as RADIANCE and DAYSIM, along

with computer-aided design (CAD) models, to simulate the irradiance due to natural and
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artificial illumination sources inside a building [20–24]. 3DS MAX DESIGN had also shown to
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have measured results similar to the more widely used DAYSIM software [25]. Different indoor

illumination conditions which include parameters such as time of the day, seasonal changes,

shadowing of light due to blinds, etc., had been researched in past studies [26–30]. These studies

intent to realize an efficient lighting system for their modelled environment. Another study had

investigated the performance of 12 commercially available PV products under indoor light

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conditions [31]. Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC) had already been commercialized (GCell

indoor solar cells) for their high power conversion efficiency (PCE) under indoor illumination

[32–35]. Studies that used thin film silicon modules and DSSC modules have shown that by

optimizing the structure for specific indoor light spectra, the efficiency can be maximized

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[36,37]. Silicon based IPVs showed the best efficiency under naturally lit environment, whereas

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DSSCs showed higher efficiencies under compact fluorescent lamp and LED illumination. A

study comparing the efficiency of inorganic and organic indoor solar cells under fluorescent and

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incandescent lighting using a maximum power point (MPP) tracking algorithm concluded that

DSSCs exhibited the best power density under fluorescent lighting, and poly-Si showed superior

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performance under incandescent lighting [38]. This was due to DSSCs having better spectral
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matching with the illumination source’s spectra. Since indoor artificial light sources emit light

only in the visual wavelengths, photovoltaic devices that absorb maximum photons in those
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wavelengths will provide the best efficiency. Similar MPP tracking algorithm studies have been
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extensively investigated for IPV applications [39–42]. Organic PVs, however, show a steady
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trend of improving the efficiency and lifetime of the device, which makes them promising

candidates to be studied for IPV applications [9,11].


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The Shockley-Queisser limit on solar cell efficiency had been deduced as 58.4% for an
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RGB white LED source for an optimal bandgap of ~1.9 eV by a previous study [10]. The study
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derived conclusion that absorber materials with bandgaps of 1.9 – 2.0 eV are the most suitable

for RGB white LED energy harvesting. Thus, wide-bandgap light-absorbing materials would

exhibit higher performance under LED illumination. In our study, we optimized a wide-bandgap

poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT):indene-C60 bisadduct (ICBA) bulk heterojunction (BHJ)

organic photovoltaic (OPV) to maximize the absorption of the LED spectrum. P3HT absorbs

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wavelengths of light from 400 nm to 650 nm effectively [23]. This makes it a suitable candidate

for indoor solar cells under LED illumination as the LED white light spectrum peaks at ~455 nm

and spans from ~400 nm to ~650 nm. This coincides with the absorption coefficient of P3HT,

thus making P3HT as an ideal absorber for the white LED light spectrum. The matching of

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absorption window and the illumination source spectrum had been found to be more beneficial

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through another study [43].

PCE of the P3HT:ICBA IPVs were derived under different light intensities, such as 200,

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800, 1000, and 2000 lx. The solar cell device structure was optimized to obtain the maximum

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short-circuit current density (Jsc,max) through finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) simulations.
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We utilized Lumerical, an FDTD solution software, which has a built-in CAD module for

drawing the solar cell structure, to solve for the distribution of the electric field due to light
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inside the IPV. The originality of our study is that we demonstrate that a common organic

absorber (P3HT) based solar cell, which when structurally optimized using optical simulation,
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can exhibit efficiencies up to ~8% under low-power white LED irradiance. The active layer
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thickness at which the maximum photocurrent was extracted from the solar cell was also

obtained by comparing the simulation results with the semi-empirically fitted, experimentally
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obtained, solar cell characteristic parameters.


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2. MATERIALS AND METHODS


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2.1 EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE:

2.1.1 Solution preparation:

P3HT (4002E, Rieke Metals, Lincoln, NE, U.S.A.) and ICBA (Luminescence

Technology Corp., New Taipei City, Taiwan) were mixed in 1,2-dicholorobenzene (DCB)

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(Aldrich, St. Louis, MO, U.S.A.) at 1:1 weight ratio. Six different total concentrations (20, 30, 40,

50, 60, and 80 mg/ml) of P3HT:ICBA were prepared. The solution was stirred overnight, in a

nitrogen-filled glove box, at 70 °C, and 0.4 wt.% of ethoxylated polyethylenimine (PEIE) [80%

ethoxylated, Mw ~70,000 g/mol, 35–40 wt.% in water purchased from Aldrich, St. Louis, MO,

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U.S.A.] was diluted in 2-Methoxyethanol (Aldrich, St. Louis, MO) and stirred overnight in

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ambient air.

2.1.2 Device fabrication:

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Indium tin oxide (ITO)-coated glass with a sheet resistivity of 10 Ω/sq (OMNI.0782, All

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for LAB, Republic of Korea) was used as the substrate. Substrates were ultrasonicated in a
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detergent bath (Liqui-Nox® Phosphate-Free Liquid Detergent, Alconox, Inc., White Plains, NY,

U.S.A.), rinsed with deionized (DI) water, and followed by sequential cleaning in ultrasonic
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baths of DI water, acetone, and 2-propanol. The cleaned substrates were blow-dried using a
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nitrogen gun. A layer of 350-nm-thick SiOx (Silicon Monoxide, Kurt J. Lesker, Clairton, PA,

U.S.A.) was deposited on ITO through the e-beam deposition process (KVE-E2000 series, Korea
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Vacuum Tech. Ltd., Republic of Korea). It was deposited through a shadow mask (to electrically
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isolate almost half of the glass/ITO area), at a rate of 0.5–0.8 nm/s, while maintaining a base

pressure of ~1 × 10-6 Torr. The substrates were ultrasonicated in 2-propanol for 10 minutes and
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dried. PEIE solution was filtered through a 0.2-µm-pore PTFE filter, and a 10-nm layer was
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spin-coated onto the substrates, in ambient atmosphere, at a speed of 5000 rpm for 1 min. The

PEIE-cast substrates were dried at 110 ºC for 10 minutes in air, on a hotplate. The substrates

were then transferred into the glove box for further coating. The P3HT:ICBA films were spin

cast at 700 rpm for 30 s, after filtering through a 0.2-µm-pore PTFE filter. 20-, 30-, 40-, 50-, 60-,

and 80-mg/ml concentrations of P3HT:ICBA produced 80-, 130-, 200-, 230-, 280-, and 400-nm-

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thick layers. The coated substrates were then annealed at 150 ºC for 10 minutes under a nitrogen

atmosphere. 10 nm of MoOx was deposited onto the active layers using a vacuum thermal

evaporation system (Daedong High Tech, Republic of Korea) connected to a nitrogen-filled

glove box. It was deposited through a shadow mask at a rate of 0.1–0.15 nm/s, while maintaining

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a base pressure of ~6 µPa. A 150-nm Ag layer was vacuum deposited at a rate of 0.1–0.2 nm/s

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while maintaining the same pressure in the chamber. The active area of the PV device was 0.1

cm2.

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2.1.3 Characterization:

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The active layer thicknesses were measured using a profilometer (a-step2000, Tencor
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Instruments, Milpitas, CA, U.S.A). Dark and illuminated current density-voltage (J-V)

characteristics were measured using 2401, Keithley Instruments, Cleveland, OH, source meter,
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operated by the K730 program by McScience, Republic of Korea. The AM1.5 G solar simulator
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used was Xe55 which was purchased from McScience, Republic of Korea. The AM1.5G had a

total irradiance of 100 mW/cm2. The indoor LED light simulator was also purchased from
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McScience, Republic of Korea. The LED lamp used was white linear COB LED from
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McScience. The irradiance of the LED lamps for different illuminance values is provided in

supplementary figure 1(a). The LED power controller used was MLP-1230 from M-VISION,
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Republic of Korea. The LED lamp output illuminances of 200, 800, 1000, and 2000 lx were used
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to characterize the indoor solar cells.

2.2 SIMULATION PROCEDURE:

2D simulations were executed on the solar cell structure designed using Lumerical, an FDTD

solution software. The device was constructed with complex refractive index values

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implemented on each layer. The complex refractive index values of each layer is provided in

supplementary figure 1(b). The structure was meshed to such an extent that further increases in

mesh density did not affect the results of the simulation. FDTD simulations computed the

distribution of the normalized electric field due to light inside the solar cell structure. Using this,

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the ideal photo-generated short-circuit current density (Jsc,ideal) from the active layer of the solar

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cell was derived. Jsc,ideal is simulated in FDTD with the assumption that the IQE is 100 % similar

to other cited references [44,45]. The simulation setup had two perfectly matched layers (PML):

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one below the bottom electrode, and one above the top electrode. Periodic boundaries were

provided along the x-axis as the light source was input at 90° to the ITO electrode. A continuous-

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wave (CW) normalized source was used to obtain the impulse response of the system. To
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simulate the Jsc,ideal due to a user-defined power spectrum (AM1.5G spectrum or indoor LED

light spectrum), the impulse response was multiplied with the respective source spectrum.
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Explanation for CW-normalization used in Lumerical, FDTD solutions software is provided in


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the supplementary under the “CW-Normalization in FDTD” section. The thickness of the active
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layer was varied from 50 nm to 400 nm with an incrementing step size of 10 nm. In order to take

into account the losses due to recombination and resistance, we used the method used in
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reference [45] and reference [46] to take into account the recombination and parasitic resistance

effects on the PCE. By fitting the data to a trend line, we found a good enough approximation for
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the optimized active layer thickness. This minimized the extensive number of experiments
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required to find the optimized active layer thickness, but at the same time, provided a satisfying

approximate optimized thickness result. Empirical fitting of the internal quantum efficiency

(IQE), fill factor (FF), and open-circuit voltage (Voc) was used to predict the respective values

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between the active layer thickness ranges of 130–400 nm. Finally, the PCE was calculated

theoretically from the simulated values, and the most optimized structure was devised.

3. RESULTS:

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The structure in Figure 1(a) was designed in Lumerical, and FDTD simulations were run

to calculate the Jsc,ideal that could be obtained from the IPV. The IQE of the IPV was assumed to

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be 100% for the FDTD simulation in order to find the ideal short-circuit current density [44,47].

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The active layer of the solar cell was varied in order to maximize the electric field due to light

concentrated inside it. This allowed more photons to be absorbed in the active layer, yielding a

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higher Jsc,ideal. The indoor LED (1000 lx) light spectrum, and the absorption of 180-nm-thick
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P3HT:ICBA active layer, is shown in Figure 1(b). Since P3HT has high absorption in the

wavelength range of ~400–650 nm, it shows good absorption of the indoor LED spectral
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irradiance. Jsc,ideal vs the active layer thickness is plotted in Figure 2. It follows a similar
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oscillating trend to that explained in [44] due to the interference of light reflected off the top

electrode in the active layer. The simulated Jsc,ideal values for different illuminations have been
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plotted in Supplementary Figure 2(a). The experimental results of the fabricated devices,
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illuminated under AM1.5 G and 1000-lx LED, are provided in Table 1 (a) and 1 (b), respectively.

Experimentally extracted J–V values (Supplementary Figure 2(b)) were used to calculate the real
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IQE of the solar cells by using the formula:


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IQE (%) = ( J , / J , ) ∗ 100 (1)

To obtain the most optimized structure providing the highest PCE, we used 2nd order polynomial

fitting of the IQE scatter plot, as shown in Figure 3(a). We opted for 2nd order polynomial fit for

IQE in order to utilize a fitting trend similar to the one used in reference [45], and to use the

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same fitting scheme for all the different IQE plots under different illumination sources. Although

the IQE points under LED illumination could be curve fit using linear fitting, using a 2nd order

polynomial fit does not skew the data as it will provide a fit close to linear fitting, by reducing

the coefficient of the 2nd order, in the case that the data points show a linear trend. We utilized

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error bars in order to provide weights to data points during fitting. Instrumental weighing

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function was used to calculate the weight of each data point used in the curve fitting. We also

used 2nd order polynomial fitting for Voc as it showed good fit with the data points. FF does not

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have seem to share a common trend between these studies. [46,48–53]. Thus, we utilizing the

least polynomial order function to fit the curve. The fill factor was fit using 3rd order polynomial

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fitting as 2nd order polynomial fitting lead to under-fitting of the data points in few plots. FF and
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Voc plots are shown in shown in Figure 3(b). These fittings hold true only within the active layer

thicknesses of 130–400 nm, and are not necessarily accurate outside this range. However, our
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study focuses on optimizing the active layer thickness within the fitted range. We calculated the
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practical short-circuit current density (Jsc,cal) that could be obtained from the solar cell structure
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by utilizing the fitted IQE values and the simulated Jsc,ideal values in Equation 1. The reason as to

why Jsc,cal is calculated is provided in the supplementary. This allowed us to calculate the short-
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circuit current density, which was closer to that which would have been obtained through

experiments. Figure 4(a) shows a comparison between the calculated short-circuit current density
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(Jsc,cal) and the experimentally obtained Jsc,exp under AM1.5 G and 1000 lx LED illumination
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sources. PCE can be obtained through the formula:

PCE (%) = ( J , ∗ V , ∗ FF ) ∗ 100 / P (2)

where Voc,fit is the open-circuit voltage obtained after curve fitting, FFfit is the fill factor

of the solar cell obtained after curve fitting, and Pin is the input power of the illumination source,

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which in this case, was a 1000-lx indoor LED source. Jsc and PCE optimization for indoor LED

source with an illuminance of 200, 800, and 2000 lx, are provided in the supplementary section.

The PCE obtained theoretically (PCEcal) was compared to the experimentally extracted PCE

(PCEexp) in Figure 4(b). The best PCE was obtained theoretically as 5.38% at an active layer

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thickness of 210 nm. Although the Jsc,cal was maximum at an active layer thickness of 320 nm for

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an illumination source of 1000 lx LED, due to the decrease of FFfit after ~230 nm of thickness,

the PCE did not improve. It should also be noted that the PCE for devices illuminated under a

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2000-lx indoor LED spectrum reached ~8.8% (Supplementary Table 1(c)). This was due to the

absorption peak of P3HT (~500 nm) nearly aligning with the spectral irradiance maximum at

~455 nm.
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The electronic behavior of the solar cell was studied using the equivalent circuit of the
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solar cell (Figure 5(a)) [54–56]. The photo-generated current produced by the solar cell can be

modeled by a current source, Jph, which will depend on the parasitic resistances. These parasitic
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resistances, series resistance (Rs) and shunt resistance (Rsh), can be derived from the dark current
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vs. voltage graph of the solar cell, which is shown in figure 5(b). The Rs and Rsh values were

calculated from the J-V curves under different independent illuminations and are provided in
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Tables 2 (a), 2 (b), and Supplementary Tables 2 (a)-(c). High shunt resistance and low series
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resistance are indications of a good solar cell device. Lower series resistance indicates that the
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contacts between the active layer and the electrodes are good with few to no defects. High shunt

resistance can determine that there is a low leakage of current from the device. The parasitic

resistances values provided in Table 2 (a), (b) indicate that the IPV devices fabricated had good

interlayer contact and charge transfer between the layers.

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Active layer thickness optimization was required respective to each illuminance intensity of

the light source. Thus, our study provided a methodology to optimize the IPV structure using

FDTD simulation for different illumination scenarios, which would hopefully aid in fabricating

more efficient device structures.

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4. DISCUSSION

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The discussion section will cover the relevance of this work, limitations, and possible

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applications (future works).

4.1 RELEVANCE:

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The relevance of our work is to emphasize the usage of a common organic semiconductor solar
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cell design in indoor light harvesting application. The indoor LED spectra has its maximum
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irradiance peaks at ~455 nm and outputs considerable irradiance from ~500 nm to ~650 nm

wavelengths. The absorption range of P3HT correlates well with the LED’s spectrum. When the
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solar cell’s spectral sensitivity matches the radiant spectra of the light source, maximum power
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could be harvested. Different solar cell technologies show differences in their performance when

illuminated under different light sources. Y. Li et al. had researched the performances of three
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different solar cell modules made from amorphous silicon, polycrystalline silicon, and DSC [57].

The study found that most power was harvested under incandescent light source, followed by
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compact fluorescent light (CFL), and then by LED. As LEDs are considered as future energy
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saving solutions for lighting, it compels the need for photovoltaic devices which can efficiently

harvest its radiant spectra. C.L. Cutting et al. had observed that organic photovoltaics that

perform significantly worse than silicon solar cells, can outperform the later under indoor LED

light conditions [58]. Another work studied the efficiency of P3HT:PC60BM based solar cell

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under low light conditions and achieved ~7% under 1000 lx fluorescent lamp [59].

P3HT:PC60BM, P3HT:ICBA, and poly[4,8-bis(5-(2-ethylhexyl)thiophen-2-yl)benzo[1,2-b;4,5-

b0]dithiophene-2,6-diyl-alt-(4-(2-ethylhexyl)-3-fluorothieno[3,4-b]thiophene)-2-carboxylate-2-

6-diyl)](PBDTTT-EFT):[6,6]-phenyl-C71-butyric acid methyl ester (PC70BM) were studied

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under an inorganic LED and a fluorescent tube with the aim of achieving high efficiency

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polymer photovoltaic devices for low-power indoor illumination [60]. It showed that

P3HT:ICBA can reach high efficiencies of ~13% when illuminated under 500 lx LED light with

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an intensity of 0.5 – 1 mW cm-2. Since the white LED in our study outputs a lower intensity, we

realize ~8% PCE for 2000 lx LED which has an intensity of about 712 µW cm-2.The study

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conducted by B. Minnaert et al. concluded that the efficiency of the solar cells depends on the
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illumination source [43]. They conducted simulations to validate the usage of chalcogenide

photovoltaic cells under LED, incandescent lamp, and a “warm” and a “cool” fluorescent tube.
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Their conclusion was that the broadening of the absorption window of the solar cell was not
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beneficial in all cases. Their results back up our choice of active material for the indoor
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photovoltaic as it fits the LED’s spectra. The article also discusses the lowering of FF and Voc

with decreasing light intensities. We also examined a drop in the Voc and the FF values under
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lower light intensities. This could be due to the dependence of parasitic resistances of the cells on

the irradiance of the illumination source as explained in reference [61]. As explained in the study
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by A. Virtuani et al., the effect of parasitic current is significant under low irradiances and thus,
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cannot be neglected. This effect was observed in our devices which showed changes in FF and

Voc with difference irradiance (Table 1 (a), (b) and Supplementary Tables 1 (a)-(c)). Roland

Steim et al. also conducted experiments to illustrate the impact of series and parallel resistances

in the photovoltaic device for low light conditions [59]. Their solar cell was based on P3HT and

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PC60BM which exhibited decrease in FF and Voc with lowering irradiance of the light source as

expected. Their best PCE was 7% under fluorescent lamp emitting an illuminance of 1000 lx. A.

Sacco et al. researched the performance of different photovoltaic modules under incandescent

lamp, halogen lamp, and fluorescent lamp [62]. Their studies showed that P3HT based organic

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photovoltaic module produced low PCE under these light sources (with maximum efficiency of

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2.06 % under 5000 lux fluorescent tube lamp). Our solar cell device achieved 5.4 % PCE under

1000 lx white LED light source. It reached a PCE of 8.8 % under 2000 lx. This result is not far-

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fetched as Roland Steim et al. and S.-S. Yang had concluded that OPVs exhibited high

performance when illuminated under low light [59,60]. This could be explained by matched

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spectral absorption in combination with lower parasitic resistances at higher illumination
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irradiance. The originality of our work is that we use FDTD optical simulations to optimize the

solar cell layer thickness in order to absorb the most amount of photons from the low-power
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white LED illumination source.


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4.2 LIMITATIONS:
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There are few technical limitations that are not part of the scope of this article. The active area of
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the solar cell is about 0.1 cm2 which will not reproduce the same result as a manufactured

module due to the variation of PCE with device area [63,64]. Although the semi-empirical fitting
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follows a reported method [45], it does not legitimate the curve fitting using theoretical
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procedure. It is based of experimental data, and thus, the fitted curve does not hold true outside

its boundaries.

4.3 FUTURE WORKS:

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Unlike for outdoor conditions where there is a standard illumination condition, indoor lighting

does not have a standardized spectrum. This is partly because indoor lighting is a mixture of the

amount of sunlight that illuminated the room and the artificial lighting in the room. As this is

unique to a building structure, predicting the illuminance inside the architecture is required.

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Indoor illumination using software like DAYSIM, which uses RADIANCE, had been used to

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study and control the amount of light in a modelled environment under different scenarios

[30,65]. 3DS MAX DESIGN also uses a similar ray tracing technique as RADIANCE to measure

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the incoming light flux in the modelled surrounding [22,65]. By using such simulation software,

we intent to find the extent of power saving that could be achieved with the use of our optimized

photovoltaic device for indoor conditions.


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5. CONCLUSION
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The application of solar cells to harvest indoor lighting is a promising field for integrated self-
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powering circuits. Our study presented the utilization of one of the most common organic photo-

absorber, P3HT, in IPV devices. We studied the IPV’s characteristics under different indoor
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LED illuminance and compared it to the simulation results. From theoretical calculations, it was
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determined that the P3HT:ICBA-based solar cell could reach a maximum PCE of ~5.38% under

1000-lx illuminance in the indoor LED spectrum used in the study. As P3HT’s absorption peak
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falls at a wavelength of ~450 nm, it qualified as a suitable candidate to be used as a light


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absorber for the LED spectrum. Thus, when the illuminance was increased to 2000 lx, the PCE

reached ~8.74%, which is close to the commercialization efficiency of 10%. This study had

successfully integrated FDTD simulations and experiments to evaluate the significance of

P3HT:ICBA-based organic solar cells in indoor LED light energy-harvesting applications.

Similar methodology could be expanded to find optimum structures under different LED

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illuminations. By theoretical calculation of the optimal bandgap, polymer absorber materials’

bandgap could be fine-tuned to absorb the whole spectrum of artificial light efficiently. Since

most IPV materials are semi-transparent, they could also serve as energy-harvesting tinted

windows. Such possibilities of IPV attracts the improvisation of its efficiency and lifetime

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through research.

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5. Acknowledgements

H.K. would like to acknowledge the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy (MOTIE,

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Korea) under the Industrial Technology Innovation Program (No. 10063473), and this research

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(2017-0878) has been conducted with the support of the fund for new professor research
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foundation program, Gyeongsang National University, 2017. This research was also supported

by the Technology Development Program to Solve Climate Changes of the NRF funded by the
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Ministry of Science, ICT & Future Planning (NRF-2016M1A2A2940912), and Basic Science

Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF), funded by the
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Ministry of Education (2016R1A6A1A03012877). J.H.B acknowledges the Ministry of Science


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and ICT (2018R1A2B6008815)


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Task 41, Subtask B. Energy Procedia 2012;30:1120–30.

doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.egypro.2012.11.125.

FIGURE CAPTIONS:
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Figure 1(a). Indoor photovoltaic device structure with P3HT:ICBA as its active layer. P3HT
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absorbs the LED light and transfers electrons to the ICBA acceptor. These electrons (and holes)

are collected at the respective electrodes through the buffer layers. In the FDTD simulation, the
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thickness of the active layer was varied to find the optimum thickness.
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Figure 1(b). 1000-lx LED light spectrum is plotted in black. The absorption of a 180-nm-thick

P3HT:ICBA active layer is plotted in red. As shown, P3HT’s absorption band satisfactorily
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overlapped the spectral irradiance maxima of the LED light spectrum. Thus, it makes it a viable
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candidate for indoor light harvesting.


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Figure 2. FDTD simulations provided the highest possible short-circuit current density that

could be obtained assuming the solar cell exhibited 100% IQE. Jsc,ideal obtained under 1000-lx

illumination is plotted against various active layer thicknesses ranging within 50–400 nm.

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Figure 3(a). IQE % was fit for active layer thicknesses in the range of 130–400 nm using

polynomial fitting. Polynomial fit was used, because it provided the best fit for the distribution of

the IQE values obtained using equation 1.

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Figure 3(b). Fill factor was fit for active layer thicknesses from 130 nm to 400 nm using

polynomial fitting. [Insert]: Voc was fit using linear fitting for the same active layer thickness

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range.

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Figure 4(a). Experimentally obtained short-circuit current density (Jsc,exp) under 1000-lx and

AM1.5 G illuminations is plotted in dashed blue lines. The short-circuit current density

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calculated (Jsc,cal) from dividing fitted IQE by Jsc,ideal is plotted in solid blue line. The Jsc,cal was
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highest at an active layer thickness of 320 nm for 1000 lx illumination.

Figure 4(b). Experimentally obtained power conversion efficiency (PCE (exp)) under 1000-lx
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and AM1.5 G illumination is plotted in dashed red lines. The PCE (cal) calculated from equation
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2 using polynomial fitted FF, linear fitted Voc, and Jsc,cal is plotted as a solid red line. The
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maximum PCE (cal) was obtained at an active layer thickness of 210 nm for 1000 lx illumination.

Figure 5(a). Equivalent circuit of the solar cell is provided. Jph is the photo-generated current.
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DIPV is the indoor photovoltaic diode, with current JD flowing through it. Parasitic resistances are

marked as Rsh for shunt resistance, and Rs for series resistance.


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Figure 5(b). Dark J–V characteristic is provided for different active layer thicknesses.

TABLE CAPTIONS:

Table 1(a): Experimentally extracted data (averaged over 5 devices) for different active layer

thicknesses under AM1.5 G illumination.

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Table 1 (b): Experimentally extracted data (averaged over 5 devices) for different active layer

thicknesses under 1000-lx LED light illumination.

Table 2 (a): Shunt and series resistance values (averaged over 5 devices) for different active

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layer thicknesses under AM1.5 G illumination.

Table 2 (b): Shunt and series resistance values (averaged over 5 devices) for different active

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layer thicknesses under 1000 lx LED illumination.

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Table 3: The optimized active layer thicknesses and the respective PCEcal for different LED

illuminance values.

FIGURES:
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Figure 1(a):
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Figure 1(b):
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Figure 2:
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130
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120
Jsc,ideal (µA/cm )

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2

110
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100 Jsc,ideal (1000 lux)


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90
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80

70
100 200 300 400
Active layer thickness (nm)

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Figure 3(a):
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Figure 3(b):
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Figure 4(a):
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Figure 4(b):
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Figure 5(a):
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Figure 5(b):
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100µ
10µ
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Log 10 |J| (J: A/cm2)

100n
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10n
1n
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80 nm
100p 130 nm
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200 nm
10p 230 nm
280 nm
1p 400 nm
100f
-1.0 -0.5 0.0 0.5 1.0
Voltage (V)

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TABLES:
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Table 1 (a):
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Thickness & Concentration Voc (mV) Jsc (mA/cm2) FF (%) PCE (%)
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80 ± 5 (nm), (20 mg/ml) 822±7 7.1±0.1 61.74±4.27 3.6±0.3


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130 ± 10 (nm), (30 mg/ml) 820±1 8.1±0.7 63.18±0.92 4.2±0.3


200 ± 10 (nm), (40 mg/ml) 810±16 8.6±0.5 58.41±2.06 4.1±0.2
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230 ± 10 (nm), (50 mg/ml) 800±6 8.4±0.5 54.93±1.48 3.7±0.2


280 ± 10 (nm), (60 mg/ml) 778±19 8.8±0.2 50.67±1.14 3.5±0.2
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400 ± 15 (nm), (80 mg/ml) 797±8 8.3±0.2 47.92±0.93 3.2±0.1


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Table 1 (b):

Jsc,exp
Thickness & Concentration Voc (mV) FF (%) PCE (%)
(µA/cm2)

130 ± 10 (nm), (30 mg/ml) 662±7 66.7±5.2 60.09±8.44 4.6±0.5

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200 ± 10 (nm), (40 mg/ml) 663±16 75.2±5.4 60.61±4.85 5.3±0.6


230 ± 10 (nm), (50 mg/ml) 661±5 75.0±3.6 61.91±2.75 5.4±0.2
280 ± 10 (nm), (60 mg/ml) 660±4 73.5±3.1 61.53±1.29 5.2±0.3
400 ± 15 (nm), (80 mg/ml) 638±18 71.5±3.5 59.24±2.31 4.7±0.2

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Table 2 (a):

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Thickness & Concentration Rsh (Ω·cm2) Rs (Ω·cm2)

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80 ± 5 (nm), (20 mg/ml) 1.3 × 10 4±1
4
130 ± 10 (nm), (30 mg/ml) 6.9 × 10 4±1

200 ± 10 (nm), (40 mg/ml)


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5±1
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230 ± 10 (nm), (50 mg/ml) 5.2 × 10 5±1
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280 ± 10 (nm), (60 mg/ml) 7.1 × 10 6±1
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400 ± 15 (nm), (80 mg/ml) 1.6 × 10 10±1
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Table 2 (b):
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Thickness & Concentration Rsh (Ω·cm2) Rs (Ω·cm2)


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130 ± 10 (nm), (30 mg/ml) 4.9 × 10 7±1
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200 ± 10 (nm), (40 mg/ml) 6.0 × 10 12±1
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230 ± 10 (nm), (50 mg/ml) 5.5 × 10 13±1
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280 ± 10 (nm), (60 mg/ml) 4.8 × 10 17±1
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400 ± 15 (nm), (80 mg/ml) 4.5 × 10 26±1

Table 3:

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Active layer thickness


LED illuminance (lx) PCEcal (%)
(nm)

200 220 2.64


800 210 6.11

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1000 210 5.35
2000 210 8.92

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