Green process for organic solar cells: water-based organic semiconductor nanoparticle dispersions

Commonly, the active layers of organic photovoltaic devices (OPV) is deposited from solution-process techniques, using chlorinated and/or aromatic solvents, which have high toxicity for the humans and the environment. In this communication, we intend to present the recent achievements dedicated to development of environmentally-friendly strategy to fabricate (OPV) devices. We have been developing several water-based colloidal inks for eco-friendly process of OPV. By a fine control of the size and the morphology of the nanoparticles, high power conversion efficiencies have been achieved, approaching 10%. This work shows that it is possible to achieve high performances devices from water-based inks by careful control of the nanoparticle and active layer morphology. It opens the route for more environmentally-friendly processes not only for organic photovoltaics but also for organic electronics in general.