University of Sussex
Browse
paper_ejam_final-Accepted.pdf (5 MB)

Derivation and solution of effective-medium equations for bulk heterojunction organic solar cells

Download (5 MB)
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-09, 04:22 authored by G Richardson, C Please, Vanessa StylesVanessa Styles
A drift-diffusion model for charge transport in an organic bulk-heterojunction solar cell, formed by conjoined acceptor and donor materials sandwiched between two electrodes, is formulated. The model accounts for (i) bulk photogeneration of excitons, (ii) exciton drift and recombination, (iii) exciton dissociation (into polarons) on the acceptor-donor interface, (iv) polaron recombination, (v) polaron dissociation into a free electron (in the acceptor) and a hole (in the donor), (vi) electron/hole transport and (vii) electron-hole recombination on the acceptor-donor interface. A finite element method is employed to solve the model in a cell with a highly convoluted acceptor/donor interface. The solutions show that, with physically realistic parameters, and in the power generating regime, the solution varies little on the scale of the microstructure. This motivates us to homogenise over the microstructure; a process that yields a far simpler one-dimensional effective medium model on the cell scale. The comparison between the solution of the full model and the effective medium (homogenised) model is very favourable for the applied voltages that are less than the built-in voltage (the power generating regime) but breaks down as the applied voltages increases above it. Furthermore, it is noted that the homogenisation technique provides a systematic way to relate effective medium modelling of bulk heterojunctions [19, 25, 36, 37, 42, 59] to a more fundamental approach that explicitly models the full microstructure [8, 38, 39, 58] and that it allows the parameters in the effective medium model to be derived in terms of the geometry of the microstructure. Finally, the effective medium model is used to investigate the effects of modifying the microstructure geometry, of a device with an interdigitated acceptor/donor interface, on its current-voltage curve.

Funding

Mathematical Modelling and Analysis of Spatial Patterning on Evolving Surfaces; G0872; EPSRC-ENGINEERING & PHYSICAL SCIENCES RESEARCH COUNCIL; EP/J016780/1

Unravelling new mathematics for 3D cell migration; G1438; LEVERHULME TRUST; RPG-2014-149

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Accepted version

Journal

European Journal of Applied Mathematics

ISSN

0956-7925

Publisher

Cambridge University Press

Issue

6

Volume

28

Page range

973-1014

Department affiliated with

  • Mathematics Publications

Research groups affiliated with

  • Numerical Analysis and Scientific Computing Research Group Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2016-12-07

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2017-07-11

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2016-12-07

Usage metrics

    University of Sussex (Publications)

    Categories

    No categories selected

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC