Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles dispersed in isopropanol (1.0 wt%; Nanograde Ltd.) were spun (4000 rpm, 30 s) and subsequently baked (80 °C, 10 min), resulting in a layer thickness of 35 nm. For the active layer, poly[[2,6′-4,8-di(5-ethylhexylthienyl)benzo[1,2-b;3,3-b]dithiophene][3-fluoro-2[(2-ethylhexyl)carbonyl]thieno[3,4-b]thiophenediyl]] (PTB7-Th, 1-Material Inc.) and [6,6]-phenyl C71-butyric acid methyl ester (PC71BM; Solenne 99%) were dissolved separately in o-xylene at a concentration of 20 g L−1 and mixed at a 2:3 polymer:fullerene ratio (w/w). Then, 2 vol% p-anisealdehyde (AA, 98%) were added.[38] The solution was kept at 85 °C before spin-coating. To avoid fast cooling of the solution during spin-coating, the substrates were heated to the same temperature before they were transferred to the spin-coater chuck. The solution was spun (2000 rpm, 60 s), and the samples were then annealed in a vacuum oven (65 °C, 20 min), yielding a layer thickness of 100 ± 10 nm.
Likewise, the infrared absorbing polymer, poly[2,7-(5,5-bis-(3,7-dimethyloctyl)-5H-dithieno[3,2-b:2′,3′-d]pyran)-alt-4,7-(5,6-difluoro-2,1,3-benzothia diazole)] (PDTP-DFBT, 1-Material) and [6,6]-phenyl C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PC61BM; Solenne 99%) were dissolved separately in o-xylene with a concentration of 28 g L−1 and mixed at a 2:3 ratio (w/w). Then, 1 vol% AA was added. Before spin-coating, the temperature of the solution was kept constant (60 °C). The substrates were not heated before spin-coating. The solution was spun on the ZnO layer (1200 rpm, 60 s), resulting in a layer thickness of 100 ± 10 nm.
10 nm of molybdenum oxide (MoOx) and 100 nm of silver (Ag) were thermally evaporated through a shadow mask to form the opaque back contact. The solar cells thus produced possessed active areas with dimensions of 3.5 × 3 mm2. For each configuration, eight solar cells were fabricated, resulting in 42 working devices in total.
Yeah, this looks like an industrial process that can be quickly scaled up much better than the last half a century of "solar breakthroughs" that somehow did very little to have prevented the rise recorded on June 16, of 2016 in atmospheric carbon dioxide of 3.88 ppm over same date of
last year
This "amazing" experiment produced current of 15.1 +/- mA per square cm.
If one could imagine that we could find enough indium on the planet to build more of this stuff, and plenty of places to dump o-xylene waste, well, the planet could be saved!!!!!!
If one has ever been in a large scale fine chemical plant, one might wonder about the logistics of synthesizing tens of millions of tons of poly[[2,6′-4,8-di(5-ethylhexylthienyl)benzo[1,2-b;3,3-b]dithiophene but don't worry be happy.
The renewable energy industry is just doing great at making us think we're interested in doing something about climate change, even if our approach consists of large deposits of mindless wishing thinking.
It's too bad that we haven't found a way to convert mindless wishful thinking into results
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