Mobility-lifetime relation links photodegradation in spin-coated and gravure-printed organic solar cells
Abstract
The degradation mechanisms of organic solar cells (OSCs) have been studied primarily in spin-coated, laboratory-scale devices, whereas scalable processing modifies the device architecture, active-layer morphology, and underlying charge-transport and recombination properties. Whether these changes also alter how solar cells degrade remains unclear. Here, we compare spin-coated and fully roll-to-roll-compatible gravure-printed PM6:Y12 solar cells during ∼1000 h of continuous illumination. Despite distinct initial properties and degradation signatures, the loss of power-conversion efficiency systematically follows the mobility-lifetime product μτ. Remarkably, ageing of the printed devices increases the recombination lifetime while strongly reducing charge-carrier mobility, showing that a longer lifetime alone does not imply improved device performance. The mobility reduction is accompanied by decreased PM6 lamellar order, whereas the additional open-circuit voltage loss originates predominantly from increased non-radiative recombination. Dark recovery further reveals a metastable contribution specific to the printed architecture. These results identify the mobility-lifetime product as a unifying physical descriptor for photodegradation, linking ageing-induced microscopic changes to macroscopic performance loss across spin-coated and scalable printed OSCs.
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BibTeX
@misc{saladina2026mobilitylifetime,
title = {{Mobility-lifetime relation links photodegradation in spin-coated and gravure-printed organic solar cells}},
author = {Maria Saladina and Paul Weitz and David Holzner and Chen Wang and Robert Eland and Svitlana Taranenko and Christopher Wöpke and Toni Seiler and Fabian Eller and Doyoung Sun and Alexander Ehm and Bekcy Joseph and Pelin Çiloğlu and Carmen Tretmans and Andreas Willert and Harald Kuhn and Roderick C. I. Mackenzie and Jan-Frederik Pietschmann and Martin Stoll and Yana Vaynzof and Dietrich R. T. Zahn and Safa Shoaee and Eva M. Herzig and Arved Carl Hübler and Thomas Heumüller and Christoph J. Brabec and Carsten Deibel},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.22467},
eprint = {2609.22467},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.22467},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Mobility-lifetime relation links photodegradation in spin-coated and gravure-printed organic solar cells
AU - Maria Saladina
AU - Paul Weitz
AU - David Holzner
AU - Chen Wang
AU - Robert Eland
AU - Svitlana Taranenko
AU - Christopher Wöpke
AU - Toni Seiler
AU - Fabian Eller
AU - Doyoung Sun
AU - Alexander Ehm
AU - Bekcy Joseph
AU - Pelin Çiloğlu
AU - Carmen Tretmans
AU - Andreas Willert
AU - Harald Kuhn
AU - Roderick C. I. Mackenzie
AU - Jan-Frederik Pietschmann
AU - Martin Stoll
AU - Yana Vaynzof
AU - Dietrich R. T. Zahn
AU - Safa Shoaee
AU - Eva M. Herzig
AU - Arved Carl Hübler
AU - Thomas Heumüller
AU - Christoph J. Brabec
AU - Carsten Deibel
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/18
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.22467
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.22467
AB - The degradation mechanisms of organic solar cells (OSCs) have been studied primarily in spin-coated, laboratory-scale devices, whereas scalable processing modifies the device architecture, active-layer morphology, and underlying charge-transport and recombination properties. Whether these changes also alter how solar cells degrade remains unclear. Here, we compare spin-coated and fully roll-to-roll-compatible gravure-printed PM6:Y12 solar cells during ∼1000 h of continuous illumination. Despite distinct initial properties and degradation signatures, the loss of power-conversion efficiency systematically follows the mobility-lifetime product μτ. Remarkably, ageing of the printed devices increases the recombination lifetime while strongly reducing charge-carrier mobility, showing that a longer lifetime alone does not imply improved device performance. The mobility reduction is accompanied by decreased PM6 lamellar order, whereas the additional open-circuit voltage loss originates predominantly from increased non-radiative recombination. Dark recovery further reveals a metastable contribution specific to the printed architecture. These results identify the mobility-lifetime product as a unifying physical descriptor for photodegradation, linking ageing-induced microscopic changes to macroscopic performance loss across spin-coated and scalable printed OSCs.
ER -