Intrinsically Stable Plastic Solar cells for unlocking tomorrow’s clean energy

Year 1 Synthesize new block copolymer electron acceptors matched to known high-PCE polymeric electron donors and introduce quinoidal polymeric block units to enhance solar light absorption, hence photocurrent. High-throughput synthetic two-dimensional molecular mass tuning tuning of the polymers will be part of this task so as to zero-in on optimum polymer molecular masses for photovoltaic performance. Year 2 Process and characterize blends and fabricate all-polymer solar cells using optimized solvents, solvent additives, and coating processes. Optimize solar cell performance using new polymeric additives, blade and brush coating processing techniques, and two-dimensional properties mapping to assess and optimize solar cell performance metrics. Make extensive use of x-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy, optical spectroscopy, and resonant soft x-ray scattering to map the active layer microstructures. Year 3 Fabricate larger all-polymer solar cell modules and establish photovoltaic performance-mechanical stress correlations using mechanical properties instrumentation. This integrated attack will produce new sets of understanding-based polymeric materials for unprecedented photovoltaic and durability performance all-polymer solar cells and their mechanically durable solar modules. Year 4 Continue solar cell photovoltaic and mechanical data collection and analysis.