Perspectives on Organic Photovoltaics

Abstract

Organic photovoltaics have been considered as a future low-cost solar energy conversion solution, and have attracted tremendous academic and industrial interests in recent years due to many technological advantages of organic semiconductors (including both small molecules and conjugated polymers). Here we describe the basic design and operation of organic photovoltaic cells as well as the important metrics for characterizing their performance. An overview of the three review articles included in this special issue on organic photovoltaics is provided, followed by discussions on the remaining significant challenges for the further development and commercialization of the organic photovoltaic technologies.

Keywords:

• organic photovoltaics
• organic electronic materials
• small molecular weight organic compounds
• conjugated polymers
• solar energy
• solar cells

Acknowledgments

The author gratefully acknowledges financial support from the National Science Foundation, the US Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Program (SETP), and the Florida Energy Systems Consortium (FESC) for research on organic-based photovoltaics.