The influence of polymer purification on the efficiency of poly(3-hexylthiophene):fullerene organic solar cells

We report the influence of different polymer purification procedures on the photovoltaic performance of bulk heterojunction solar cells formed from binary blends of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and fullerenes. Selective Soxhlet extractions and metal scavenging agents were used to remove residual mo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2016-03, Vol.6 (1), p.23651-23651, Article 23651
Main Authors: Bannock, James H., Treat, Neil D., Chabinyc, Michael, Stingelin, Natalie, Heeney, Martin, de Mello, John C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
639/301/1005/1007
639/638/298/917
Butyric acid
Fullerenes
Humanities and Social Sciences
Indene
Magnesium
multidisciplinary
Photovoltaic cells
Photovoltaics
Polymerization
Polymers
Purification
Science
Solar cells
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Summary:We report the influence of different polymer purification procedures on the photovoltaic performance of bulk heterojunction solar cells formed from binary blends of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and fullerenes. Selective Soxhlet extractions and metal scavenging agents were used to remove residual monomer, magnesium salt by-products and catalyst from high-weight P3HT (Mw 121 kg/mol, PDI 1.8, RR 99%) synthesised by the Grignard metathesis (GRIM) polymerization route. Using phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PC 60 BM) as an electron acceptor, we observed an increase in average power conversion efficiency from 2.3 to 4.8% in going from crude to fully purified material. Using indene-C 60 bisadduct (IC 60 BA) in place of PC 60 BM, we observed a further increase to an average value of 6.6% - high for a bulk heterojunction formed from a binary blend of P3HT and C 60 fullerene derivatives.
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/srep23651