Tandem architectures for the environmentally friendly production of organic solar cells

In order to be able to manufacture organic (tandem) solar cells on a large scale and at low cost in the future, the laboratory processes must be transferred to printing processes that are close to industry. Process adaptation is imperative in order to replace the toxic and carcinogenic "laboratory solvents" with environmentally friendly media. The use of environmentally friendly solvents significantly reduces process costs by lowering safety requirements. Environmentally friendly solvents equally reduce CO2 emissions and energy payback time, enabling sustainable manufacturing of organic solar cells.

Non-halogenated aromatic solvents are already used within the community, but even these solvents still enforce significant safety precautions. This project proposal therefore goes one step further: the organic semiconductors are to be dispersed as nanoparticles - similar to wall paint - in non-toxic solvents such as water or alcohols and then used to build tandem solar cells.