High Operation Stability of Ultraflexible Organic Solar Cells with Ultraviolet-Filtering Substrates

Ultralightweight and flexible power sources are essential for driving textile or wearable electronic devices and soft robots because they do not induce discomfort or limit movement when they are attached to human skin, textiles, or soft actuators. Organic solar cells (OSCs) are good candidates for developing such power sources because they have the advantages of being lightweight and flexible. However, achieving operational stability and ultrathin shape simultaneously remains difficult because the ultrathin substrate cannot prevent the penetration of ultraviolet (UV) light, which is major a cause for the degradation of OSCs. Here, ultrathin OSCs that show great operational stability and high performance are reported. The 1.3 µm thick transparent polyimide utilized as a substrate can block light of 350 nm wavelength in the UV range by 90%. The ultrathin OSCs with the transparent polyimide substrate produce a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 9.0% and realize both photostability and operational stability. The PCE was maintained at 90% after 3 h in a maximum power point tracking test, indicating much better operational stability than the reference rigid OSCs.