Improvement of Poly(3-phenylthiophene)-Based Bulk Heterojunction Organic Solar Cells

Abstract

This paper describes the synthesis and photovoltaic studies of Poly(3-Phenylthiophene) (P3PhT). P3PhT was synthesized by the chemically oxidized polymerization in the presence of FeCl₃. Bulk heterojunction solar cells based on polymer were fabricated by using chloroform, chlorobenzene, and dichlorobenzene at different weight ratios of P3PhT. The different ratios of P3PhT as the electron donor blended with [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PC₆₁BM) as the electron acceptor were investigated. A maximum power conversion efficiency was achieved at a 2:3 (wt:wt) P3PhT:PC₆₁BM blend ratio in dichlorbenzene.

Keywords:

• Bulk heterojunction solar cells
• chemical oxidative polymerization
• conjugated polymer

Acknowledgment

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the The Royal Golden Jubilee Ph.D. Program (RGJ), the Thailand Research Funds, the National Research University Project under Thailand's Office of the Higher Education Commission, and Graduate School Chiang Mai University. This research was supported in part by a grant from the U.S. Dept. of Energy under Grant No. 07ER46428. E.D.P. is an NSF graduate research fellow. Synthesis polymer and the solar-cell experimental characterization were performed at The Center for Nanotechnology and Molecular Materials, Wake Forest University, USA. We are thankful to Maejo University for cyclic voltammogram experimental characterization.