The Optical and Electrical Characterization of Solar Cell Devices Based on the Physical Parameters of P3HT:PCBM Photoactive Layers

Abstract

In this study, we investigated the power conversion efficiency of organic solar cells utilizing conjugated polymer/fullerene bulk-hetero junction device structures. We fabricated Poly(3-hexylthiophene)(P3HT) as an electron donor, [6,6]-Phenyl C₆₁ butyric acid methyl ester(PCBM) as an electron acceptor, and Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) -poly(styrenesulfonate(PEDOT:PSS)as a hole injection layer(HIL). These materials were coated using a spin coating method onto a glass substrate. The properties of the fabricated organic solar cell (OSC) devices have been analyzed as a function of the mixture ratios ranging from 1:0.4 to 1:1.3 (the P3HT was fixed at 1). The electrical characteristics of the fabricated devices were obtained by investigating the J-V, the fill factor (FF), and power conversion efficiency (PCE). The highest PCE (2.2%) was obtained after a post annealing at 150°C at the mixture ratio of 1:0.7, which is 2.2times better than the device without post-annealing.

Keywords:

• Solar cell
• P3HT
• PCBM
• annealing
• conjugated polymers
• fullerenes
• bulk hetero
• junction
• PCE

Acknowledgment

This research was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (2011-0006992).