Influence of blend composition and annealing temperature on optical properties of organic photovoltaic cell based on P3HT:PCBM interpenetrating blend

ABSTRACT

In this paper, the influence of blend composition and annealing temperature on optical properties of organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells based on P3HT:PCBM interpenetrating blend is presented. Optical optimization of the OPV cell is first performed to determine the optimal geometry of the stack. The studied device structure is: glass/ITO/PEDOT:PSS/P3HT:PCBM/Ca/Al. Simulation results give as optimized thicknesses: d_PEDOT:PSS = 27 nm and d_{Active layer} = 91 nm. The optimized OVP cell gives a short-circuit current J_SC = 12.48 mA/cm². The influence of technological parameters on the performance of the optimized P3HT:PCBM blend OPV cell is then clearly defined. Simulation results show that among the mass ratio of P3HT:PCBM blend active layers studied (1:1, 1:2, 2:1, 2:3 and 3:2), the active layer with the higher blend mass ratio (2:1) gives the best optical properties. Also, increasing the annealing temperature of the active layer leads to increase absorption. The blend active layer annealed at 140°C presents the best optical properties of the OPV cell.

KEYWORDS:

• Optical modeling
• organic solar cell
• P3HT:PCBM blend
• mass ratio
• annealing temperature

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the deanship of scientific research at Islamic University (Madinah, KSA) for supporting this first (Tamayyouz) program of academic year 2018/2019, research project No.: 1/40. All collaboration works are gratefully acknowledged. The second author Prof. A. Mellit expresses a special acknowledgment to the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), Trieste, Italy.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Tamayyouz program by Medinah University, KSA,  2018/2019 .  [No.: 1 / 40]'.