2020, what a year. A collective, global “annus horribilis”.

Thankfully this year is nearly over and thanks to a truly impressive push by our research colleagues in virology, hope is around the corner in the shape of several promising vaccines.

And it’s with a focus on great research results that we’d like to conclude and celebrate this past year.

Stand Out Research of 2020

Fluxim was founded on research. We span out from the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW) in 2006 and we continue to this day to collaborate on several research projects. Our product development is very much linked to the needs of the researcher.

We’re phenomenally proud that 2020 was a record year for us. A staggering 83 papers have been published that used either our software and measurement instruments. A big thank you goes out to all the research groups that have trusted in our tools.

Our own ever-expanding team of researchers also continues to publish high impact papers on next-generation semiconducting devices. So given our proximity to what’s happening in the world of perovskite solar cells, OPVs, flexible displays and PeroLEDs we thought it an appropriate end to the year to ask what they thought were some of the stand out research papers of 2020.

Fluxim’s Researcher Team

Perovskite Solar Cell Efficiency Boost

A Multilayered Electron Extracting System for Efficient Perovskite Solar Cells

Akmaral Seitkhan Marios Neophytou Rawad K. Hallani Joel Troughton Nicola Gasparini Hendrik Faber Edy Abou‐Hamad Mohamed Nejib Hedhili George T. Harrison Derya Baran Leonidas Tsetseris Thomas D. Anthopoulos Iain McCulloch

First published: 04 September 2020

https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202004273

A new ETL that boosts the efficiency of perovskite solar cells up to 19.2% has been developed by KAUST.
The Electron Transport Layer (ETL) in a pero-PV needs to assure good charge transport with reduced recombination losses and suitable energy level alignment with the perovskite and the electrode. The group of Prof. McCulloch and colleagues at the KAUST Solar Center (KSC) proposed a solution-processable trilayer of PC60BM, Al-doped zinc oxide (AZO), and triphenyl-phosphine oxide (TPPO), which meets this expectation. This ETL improved the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of around 3% for a control structure with PC60BM-only. The fill factor (FF) of the best device is 82% and the device stability under constant illumination is around 800 h.
Our characterization tool Paios helped them demonstrating that the improved charge extraction and higher carrier lifetime is due to the reduced trap-assisted recombination. Paios was used to perform several opto-electric characterizations, such as Transient Photocurrent (TPC), Capacitance-Voltage (CV), Charge Extraction (CE), and Light-Intensity-Dependent Measurements.

Kaust Leads the Way in Organic Solar Cell Research

A Highly Conductive Titanium Oxynitride Electron‐Selective Contact for Efficient Photovoltaic Devices

Xinbo Yang Yuanbao Lin Jiang Liu Wenzhu Liu Qunyu Bi Xin Song Jingxuan Kang Fuzong Xu Lujia Xu Mohamed N. Hedhili Derya Baran Xiaohong Zhang Thomas D. Anthopoulos Stefaan De Wolf, Adv. Mater. 2020, 32, 2002608. https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202002608

The next generation of low-cost solar cells is not only perovskite PVs.
Organic Solar Cells can reach a PCE of 17.02% by using Titanium Oxynitride (TiOxNy) as a novel electron transport layer (ETL). The groups of Profs. Thomas Anthopoulos and Stefaan De Wolf at the KAUST Solar Center (KSC) are proposing this versatile material that works for both OPVs and c-Si solar cells showing low resistivity and high electron density.

Also, it does not require thermal annealing after deposition, which reduces the complexity of the OPV fabrication for conventional transition metal oxides. The TiOxNy has been characterized in-depth, both optically and electrically.
Steady-state and transient (photo-CELIV) electrical measurements have been carried out with #PAIOS. The light intensity dependence of Jsc demonstrates that bimolecular recombination losses are negligible. This explains why TiOxNy is more efficient than ZnO in extracting photogenerated carriers. Also, the charge carrier mobility is higher in OPVs with TiOxNy, as demonstrated by photo-CELIV.
This ETL is deposited on a large area with high uniformity, which could help the development of flexible and cost-effective OPVs.

Simulation Predicts Higher Efficiency for Perovskite LEDs

Enhanced hole injection assisted by electric dipoles for efficient perovskite light-emitting diodes

Xiangtian Xiao, Kai Wang, Taikang Ye, Rui Cai, Zhenwei Ren, Dan Wu, Xiangwei Qu, Jiayun Sun, Shihao Ding, Xiao Wei Sun & Wallace C. H. Choy

Communications Materials volume 1, Article number: 81 (2020)

https://www.nature.com/articles/s43246-020-00084-0

How do you improve the efficiency of your perovskite LEDs?
A strategy that has been recently proposed is to place a thin layer of MoO3 between the injection layer (HIL) and the hole transport layer (HTL). MoO3 was not selected by a time-consuming trial-and-error experimental approach. The researchers performed simulations, which suggested to use a material with a deep conduction band level. The calculated profile of the electric field, the distribution of the carries, and the profile of the charge recombination in the stack indicated that this interface layer would have enhanced hole injection. Before going to the laboratory, they have been able to predict that the fabricated perovskite LED would have higher current efficiency in comparison to the reference device, and this was then confirmed by the experiments. The improved charge balance helped to extend the device's lifetime.
Simulations were performed with Setfos.

Lead Replacement in Perovskite Solar Cells

Efficient and Stable Tin Perovskite Solar Cells Enabled by Graded Heterostructure of Light‐Absorbing Layer

Tianhao Wu Danyu Cui Xiao Liu Xiangyue Meng Yanbo Wang Takeshi Noda Hiroshi Segawa Xudong Yang Yiqiang Zhang Liyuan Han

First published: 18 June 2020 https://doi.org/10.1002/solr.202000240

Perovskite solar cells promise a lot however there still environmental concerns surrounding the use of lead. This paper details an interesting advancement in replacing lead in perovskite solar cells (PSCs). A stable tin-based PSC with a power conversion efficiency of 11% has been fabricated with a graded junction between a narrow‐bandgap and a wide‐bandgap perovskite. This heterostructure was easily obtained via sequential cation exchange in solution. Different electrical characterizations with our characterization tool Paios, such as Transient Photovoltage (TPV) and Voc/L measurements, show a reduced charge carrier recombination against the reference solar cell. This explained the higher Voc. Increasing the bandgap gradually from the bulk to the interface helps the extraction of photogenerated electrons, decrease the trap density, and increase the stability of the Sn2+ against oxidation.

OLED Efficiency Maintained at Scale

Metal Grid Structures for Enhancing the Stability and Performance of Solution-Processed Organic Light-Emitting Diodes

Gregory Burwell, Nicholas Burridge, Oskar J. Sandberg, Eloise Bond, Wei Li, Paul Meredith, and Ardalan Armin

First published: June 2020 https://doi/epdf/10.1002/aelm.202000732

Have you tried to scale up your Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED) to large areas, just to discover that the efficiency was considerably lower than the lab-scale device?

For both LEDs and solar cells, the scaling-up process is a challenge, also because of the high sheet resistance of the transparent conductive electrode (TCE). The TCE needs to be thin enough to be optically transparent, but not a high resistivity element that hinders the charge injection/extraction. Generally, in large-area devices, the electrode introduces resistive losses which are limiting the device efficiency.

Researchers at Swansea University exploited FEM simulation to compare OLEDs with typical thin-film TCEs and with a transparent metal grid added to the TCE. The use of metallic micro-grids is investigated to improve the sheet resistance–visible transparency balance of TCEs.

The reduced potential drop from the presence of grids is shown to lower the Joule heating at the TCE, resulting in higher power conversion efficiency and luminosity, as well as improved device stability. The proposed strategy could enable the fabrication of large-area OLED for lighting with reduced resistive losses and lower usage of indium with respect to the current fabrication methods.

An optimized electrode with low sheet resistance and high transmittance can be designed with the simulation software Laoss.

Ongoing Research Projects 2020

Research propels what we do at Fluxim, it’s what makes us tick. To that end we wanted to highlight and applaud the ongoing research projects we’re collaborating on:

PHENOmenon is a project to develop and validate an integral manufacturing approach (material, process and technology) for large area direct laser writing of 2D & 3D optical structures, targeting high-speed production of optical surfaces with subwavelength resolution, using non-linear absorption.

Developments in photochemistry and laser beam forming will allow producing structures at different scales (100 nm to 10 microns). An unedited productivity in free-form fabrication of 3D structures will trigger the manufacturing of new and powerful opto structures with applications in lighting, displays, sensing, etc.

The OIE CORNET Platform constitutes an interactive web-based tool which interconnects entities from the academic, research, industrial and business communities interested in the triangle of manufacturing, modeling and experimentation of Organic/Large Area Electronics and their commercialization.

TADFlife – “Using the smart matrix approach to enhance TADF-OLED efficiency and Lifetime“, is an interdisciplinary and international innovative training Action. TADFlife is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action Innovative Training Network (ITN) funded by the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020.

AIPV Project (AI-Assisted Thermal and Electrical Characterization of Large-Area PV Modules)

Contributors: E. Comi, C. Kirsch, E. Knapp, B. Ruhstaller

Funding: Innosuisse

To detect defects in solar panels during manufacturing, we apply experimental characterization as well as modeling and simulation of photovoltaic cells with our software Laoss. Machine learning and traditional methods are used and compared to estimate model parameters.

Project "ScaleUp"

3 year project, funded within the European Solar-era.net call

Contributors : Juan Antonio Anta, Universidad Pablo de Olavide de Sevilla, Maytal Caspary Toroker, Israel Institute of Technology , Shuxia Tao, Technical University of Eindhoven, Fluxim AG

The aim of the Scale Up project is to further develop perovskite solar cells by resolving the current problems that are hindering commercialization. Based on results from fundamental material investigation and device characteristics, we will develop versatile numerical models for large scale molecular dynamics, capable to capture the physics and chemistry that trigger processes causing instability issues

The availability of such numerical tools and a resulting user-friendly software, will make it possible to extend the durability of perovskite solar cells and to provide software and testing benchmarks to enable researchers to achieve this goal.

New Research Projects 2021

Fluxim joins the MUSICODE project - “Open Innovation Platform for Materials Modeling”

Fluxim is pleased to announce that it will be joining the MUSICODE project as an industry/research expert. MUSICODE is funded by the European Commission and addresses the Horizon2020 call for an “open innovation platform for materials modeling”. The project brings together top European expertise from academia, research and industry to create an integrated materials-process-device modeling platform for the Organic and Large Area Electronics (OLAE) industry.

This platform will integrate:

(a) Material, process and device modeling spanning the micro, meso and macro scales, validated by expert academic and industrial partners. Novel hierarchical modeling workflows will establish direct links between OLAE processing technology and material/device performance.

(b) An integrated modeling framework with interoperability between different modules (physics models, solvers, pre- and post-processors) and workflows, based on standardized metadata, semantics and ontology across scales and physics within the OE domain as well as to other domains, linked to HPC infrastructures

(c) A sustainable dedicated database with standardized material, process and device properties, modeling parameters, standard & industrially accepted protocols for material modeling and manufacturing, links to other databases and platforms.

(d) An intuitive graphical user interface for workflow design, model selection and build-up, data analysis, optimization and decision making, with plug-ins to/from Open Translation Environment, Business Decision Support Systems and the Materials Modeling Market Place.

The MUSICODE platform will be complemented by a credible business plan for its sustainability and exploitation beyond the duration of the project, with the ambition to start as the central open innovation hub for the OLAE industry and evolve as the central paradigm for cross-domain applications.

Beyond the state-of-the-art:

Despite the success of material simulations in the OE domain, there are currently no models that can adequately predict the influence of fabrication parameters on the final device performance. Development in new processes and devices is still mostly based on time-consuming, systematic experiments. EU efforts to date (e.g. EXTMOS, MOSTOPHOS, CORNET, etc) have mostly focused on materials modeling and for good reason: property prediction of amorphous organics and polymers, with complex structures and electronic interactions (carriers, excitons, traps, recombination, etc) is highly difficult. The next step onward, to include material processing & manufacturing is even more ambitious. All scales need to be fully involved, starting from the raw materials (e.g. inks) and the actual fabrication process (e.g. printing) to the explicit modeling of the phase formation thermodynamics in the mesoscale (e.g. during annealing), before we get into the (better studied to-date) materials modeling of molecule dynamics, electronic interactions and charge transport. This approach constitutes a big ambitious leap towards full, computer-aided, materials, process and device modeling and design.

We look forward to collaborating on this project when it starts in January 2021.

Advanced Materials and Characterization Tools for Quantum-Dot enhanced Displays (QD Tools)

Contributors: Inno QD, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology KAIST, Sookmyung Women’s University, Fluxim AG

Duration: 36 months Funding: Innosuisse

Beginning in January 2021 the QD Tools project aims to develop improved quantum-dot (QD) encapsulation technology for display enhancement films, innovative measurement systems and simulation software for characterizing QD films as well as ink-jet printing technology for deposition of QD films on top of OLED pixels.

QD particle containing films have entered the LCD display industry as a key performance enhancement, large-area film that converts blue LED backlight to green and red light. However, the overall flat panel display package and energy consumption could significantly be reduced if the QD films with high particle concentration and appropriate color (green or red) could be directly deposited onto blue-emitting OLED pixels mitigating the need for an additional color filter, which represents a major step towards a next-generation display technology. This breakthrough shall be achieved with innovative QD materials and R&D tools.

Thank You & Happy Holidays.

As we sign off this final newsletter we’d like to thank all the research groups that have trusted in our tools.

Please accept our sincere well wishes for the coming holiday season and let’s hope we can make 2021 an “annus mirabilis”!

Until then Viel Glück zum nöie Jahr!

Your Fluxim Team

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