Operational Stability and Built-in Potential in Organic Solar Cells

Substantial progress has been made in the development of efficient organic solar cells (OSCs). Apart from efficiency and cost competitiveness, operation stability is another important factor with practical implications if OSCs are to be a feasible option for a sustainable green energy source. This chapter discusses the effects of interfacial properties, exciton dissociation at the metal/organic interface on charge recombination, charge extraction efficiency, power conversion efficiency, and operation stability of solution-processable OSCs, analyzed using a combination of theoretical simulation, photoelectron spectroscopy, transient photocurrent, and photo-induced charge extraction by linearly increasing voltage techniques. It unveils the importance of retaining a high built-in potential across the active layer through mitigating the interfacial chemical reaction-associated degradation processes for high-performance OSCs.