InMold Organic Photovoltaics

For the consolidation of organic photovoltaics (OPV), it is crucial to create market pull through the identification and target of strategic niches, where this technology can exploit its fundamental differentiators.1 For instance, materials engineering has enabled wavelength-selective harvesting with transparent OPV for power-generating windows2 and building-integrated photovoltaics.3 Therein, a simultaneous high efficiency and high transparency are needed. While the community has made relevant developments to maximize the optoelectronic properties of OPV devices, little attention has been paid to their structural properties. High-volume manufacturing technologies such as plastic thermoforming and injection moulding can help expand the opportunities, the capabilities, and the seamless integration of OPV.

In this work we demonstrate, for the first time, the feasibility of fabricating OPV cells and modules embedded into structural plastic parts through injection moulding. This process yields lightweight OPV devices with enhanced device robustness and durability, thanks to the hermetical and conformable encapsulation resulting from the plastic injection. We discuss the interplay between the plastic processing conditions and the OPV device performance and stability, as well as highlight relevant optomechanical and physico-chemical material properties, including recyclable thermoplastic polymeric materials that might facilitate material reuse. Finally, we also show how plastic processing can be used to fabricate low-cost, three‑level hierarchically organized micro/nanometric surface textures that provide additional functionalities, such as light management or self-cleaning.4