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Updated: Jan 31, 2026

Fabrication of Fully Solution Processed Inorganic Nanocrystal Photovoltaic Devices
Published on: July 8, 2016
Overcoming efficiency and stability limits in water-processing nanoparticular organic photovoltaics by minimizing
Chen Xie1, Thomas Heumüller2, Wolfgang Gruber3
1Institute of Materials for Electronics and Energy Technology (i-MEET), Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Martensstrasse 7, 91058, Erlangen, Germany. chen.xie@fau.de.
Abstract:
There is a strong market driven need for processing organic photovoltaics from eco-friendly solvents. Water-dispersed organic semiconducting nanoparticles (NPs) satisfy these premises convincingly. However, the necessity of surfactants, which are inevitable for stabilizing NPs, is a major obstacle towards realizing competitive power conversion efficiencies for water-processed devices. Here, we report on a concept for minimizing the adverse impact of surfactants on solar cell performance. A poloxamer facilitates the purification of organic semiconducting NPs through stripping excess surfactants from aqueous dispersion. The use of surfactant-stripped NPs based on poly(3-hexylthiophene) / non-fullerene acceptor leads to a device efficiency and stability comparable to the one from devices processed by halogenated solvents. A record efficiency of 7.5% is achieved for NP devices based on a low-band gap polymer system. This elegant approach opens an avenue that future organic photovoltaics processing may be indeed based on non-toxic water-based nanoparticle inks.
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