{"id":104650,"date":"2020-11-04T13:00:01","date_gmt":"2020-11-04T10:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/scientists-develop-method-to-detect-charge-traps-in-organic-semiconductors\/"},"modified":"2020-11-04T13:00:01","modified_gmt":"2020-11-04T10:00:01","slug":"scientists-develop-method-to-detect-charge-traps-in-organic-semiconductors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/scientists-develop-method-to-detect-charge-traps-in-organic-semiconductors\/","title":{"rendered":"#Scientists develop method to detect charge traps in organic semiconductors"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Scientists develop method to detect charge traps in organic semiconductors<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

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\"Scientists
\n Lead author, Nasim Zarrabi measuring the photo-response of organic solar cells at Optoelectronics Laboratory of Swansea University. Credit: Swansea University
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Scientists at Swansea University have developed a very sensitive method to detect the tiny signatures of so called ‘charge traps’ in organic semiconductors.<\/p>\n


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The research, published in Nature Communications<\/i> and supported by the Welsh Government through the European Regional Development Fund, may change views about what limits the performance of organic solar cells, photodetectors and OLEDs.<\/p>\n

Organic semiconductors are materials mainly made of carbon and hydrogen which can be flexible, low weight and colorful.<\/p>\n

They are the key components in OLED displays, solar cells and photodetectors that can distinguish different colors and even mimic the rods and cones of the human eye.<\/p>\n

The efficiency of organic solar cells to convert sunlight to electricity has recently reached 18 % and the race is on to really understand the fundamentals of how they work.<\/p>\n

Lead author Nasim Zarrabi, a Ph.D. student at Swansea University said: “For a long time, we guessed that some charges that are generated by the sunlight can be trapp<\/a>ed in the semiconductor layer of the solar cell, but we’ve never really been able to prove it.<\/p>\n

“These traps make solar cells less efficient, photodetectors less sensitive and an OLED TV less bright, so we really need a way to study them and then understand how to avoid them\u2014this is what motivates our work and why these recent findings are so important.”<\/p>\n

Research lead, Dr. Ardalan Armin, a S\u00ear Cymru II Rising Start Fellow commented: “Ordinarily, traps are ‘dead ends’ so to speak; in our study we see them also generating new charges rather than annihilating them completely.<\/p>\n

“We’d predicted this could maybe happen, but until now did not have the experimental accuracy to detect these charges generated via traps.”<\/p>\n

Dr. Oskar Sandberg, the theorist behind the work said that he has been waiting for such experimental accuracy for several years.<\/p>\n

“What we observed experimentally has been known in silicon and gallium arsenide as intermedia<\/a>te band solar cells, in organic solar cells it has never been shown that traps can generate charges,” he said.<\/p>\n

“The additional charges generated by the traps is not beneficial for generating lots of electricity because it is very tiny.<\/p>\n

“But it is sufficient to be able to study these effects and maybe find ways to control them in order to make genuine improvements in device performance.”<\/p>\n\n

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Discovery challenges accepted rule of organic solar cell design\n <\/p><\/div>\n

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\n More information:<\/strong>
\n Nature Communications<\/i> (2020). DOI: 10.1038\/s41467-020-19434-0<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n
\n Provided by
\n Swansea University
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Citation<\/strong>:
\n Scientists develop method to detect charge traps in organic semiconductors (2020, November 4)
\n retrieved 4 November 2020
\n from https:\/\/phys.org\/news<\/a>\/2020-11-scientists-method-semiconductors.html<\/p>\n

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\n part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n