Abstract
Organic polymer solar materials are shown to exhibit better solubility in mixed solvents than in pure ones, which affects the performance of their solar cells. In this article, poly[N-9-hepta-decanyl-2,7-carbazole-alt-5,5-(4,7-di-2-thienyl-2,1,3-benzothiadiazole) (PCDTBT) and [6,6]-phenyl-C71-butyric acid methyl ester (PC71BM) are used as active layer materials in solar cells. To optimize the performance of these active materials, the ratio of chloroform (CF) to chlorobenzene used as solvents to dissolve PCDTBT, and PC71BM is varied, which is shown to affect power conversion efficiency (PCE). The solar cell that shows the best performance with a PCE as high as 6.82 % is produced using a volume ratio of CF to chlorobenzene of 1:1.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Explore related subjects
Discover the latest articles, news and stories from top researchers in related subjects.References
He ZC, Zhong CM, Huang X et al (2011) Simultaneous enhancement of open-circuit voltage, short-circuit current density, and fill factor in polymer solar cells. Adv Mater 23:4636–4643
Cai W, Gong X, Cao Y (2010) Polymer solar cells: recent development and possible routes for improvement in the performance. Solar Energy Mater Solar Cells 94:114–127
Gunes S, Neugebauer H, Sariciftci NS (2007) Conjugated polymer-based organic solar cells. Chem Rev 107:1324–1338
Chu TY, Alem S, Verly PG et al (2009) Highly efficient polycarbazole-based organic photovoltaic devices. Appl Phys Lett 95:063304
Park SH, Roy A, Beaupré S et al (2009) Bulk heterojunction solar cells with internal quantum efficiency approaching 100 %. Nat Photonics 3:297–302
Salima A, Chu TY, Shing CT et al (2011) Effect of mixed solvents on PCDTBT:PC71BM based solar cells. Org Electron 12:1788–1793
Marsh RA, Hodgkiss JM, Albert-Seifried S et al (2010) Effect of annealing on P3HT:PCBM charge transfer and nanoscale morphology probed by ultrafast spectroscopy. Nano Lett 10:923–930
Ratcliff EL, Meyer J, Xerxes SK et al (2012) Energy level alignment in PCDTBT:PC71BM solar cells: solution processed NiO x for improved hole collection and efficiency. Org Electron 13:744–749
Cho S, Seo JH, Park SH et al (2010) Interface-engineering additives of poly(oxyethylene tridecyl ether) for low-band gap polymer solar cells consisting of PCDTBT:PC71BM bulk-heterojunction layers. Adv Mater 22:1253–1257
Deibel C, Wagenpfahl A (2010) Comment on “interface state recombination in organic solar cells”. Phys Rev B 82:207301
Cowan SR, Street RA, Cho S et al (2011) Transient photoconductivity in polymer bulk heterojunction solar cells: competition between sweep-out and recombination. Phys Rev B 83:0352051
Manceau M, Bundgaard E, Carlé JE et al (2011) Photochemical stability of π-conjugated polymers for polymer solar cells: a rule of thumb. J Mater Chem 21:4132–4141
Ipe BL, Thomas KG, Barazzouk S et al (2001) Photoinduced charge separation in a fluorophore-gold nanoassembly. J Phy Chem B 106:18–21
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Hebei Province (F2010000306, F2012201089) and the Hebei Province Department of Education Fund (ZH 2011205).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
About this article
Cite this article
Yang, S., Zhang, Y., Jiang, T. et al. Enhancing the power conversion efficiency of PCDTBT:PC71BM polymer solar cells using a mixture of solvents. Chin. Sci. Bull. 59, 297–300 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-013-0046-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11434-013-0046-z