Date of Award

Summer 2012

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering

Program/Concentration

Aerospace Engineering

Committee Director

Gene Hou

Committee Member

Gon Namkoong

Committee Member

Colin Britcher

Call Number for Print

Special Collections; LD4331.E56 D43 2012

Abstract

Due to the high coupling and non-linear nature of the semiconductor equations, numerical stability becomes a major problem when using a purely Newtonian numerical method in solving these equations. Presented is a robust mixed finite element formulation with application for organic solar cell devices that incorporates the arc-length predictor-corrector method to bypass such stability issues. The simulated device represents a multilayered solar cell using organic bulk hetero-junction materials including donor materials Poly[2,1,3-benzothiadiazole-4,7-diyl[4,4-bis(2-ethylhexyl)-4H-cyclopenta[2,1-b:3,4- b']dithiophene-2,6-diyl]] (PCPDTBT) and poly 3-hexylthiophene (P3HT) with acceptor fullerene materials [6,6]-phenyl C61 butyric acid methyl ester (PC61BM) or [6,6]-phenyl C71 butyric acid methyl ester (PC71BM) as the photoactive layer with thicknesses of 50 to 250 nanometers. Theoretical light-to-energy efficiencies ranged from 2% to over 8% with an optimal device efficiency of 8.26% using PCPDTBT:PC71BM with an active layer thickness of 100 nanometers. Other theoretical devices using P3HT:PC61/71BM were optimized with efficiencies of 3.95% utilizing P3HT:PC61BM with an active layer thickness of 200 nanometers and 6.2% utilizing P3HT:PC71BM with an active layer thickness of 100 nanometers.

Rights

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DOI

10.25777/e3fa-z416

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