Effect of traps on the performance of bulk heterojunction organic solar cells

The effect of electron traps on the performance of bulk heterojunction organic solar cells made of poly[2-methoxy-5-(3′,7′-dimethyloctyloxy)-1,4-phenylene vinylene] blended with [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) is investigated. By deliberately introducing 7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodime...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied physics letters 2007-12, Vol.91 (26)
Main Authors: Mandoc, M. M., Kooistra, F. B., Hummelen, J. C., de Boer, B., Blom, P. W. M.
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:The effect of electron traps on the performance of bulk heterojunction organic solar cells made of poly[2-methoxy-5-(3′,7′-dimethyloctyloxy)-1,4-phenylene vinylene] blended with [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) is investigated. By deliberately introducing 7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane, which is a stronger electron accepting molecule than PCBM, the electron transport in the solar cells becomes trap limited. We demonstrate that the open circuit voltage and its light-intensity dependence are strongly affected by recombination of holes with trapped electrons. Depending on the amount of traps, their recombination strength, and the light intensity, the losses due to trap-assisted recombination can even dominate over the intrinsic bimolecular recombination.
ISSN:0003-6951
1077-3118
DOI:10.1063/1.2821368