Flexible solar cells based on PCBM/P3HT heterojunction

Abstract

[6,6]-phenyl-C₆₁-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) / poly (3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) heterojunction has not only the absorption in ultraviolet light for PCBM, but also the absorption in visible light for P3HT, which widens the incident light harvest range, improving the photoelectrical response of hybrid solar cell effectively. Using conducting polymers blend heterojunction consisting of C₆₀ derivatives PCBM and P3HT as charge carrier transferring medium to replace{\mathrm{I}}_{\mathrm{3}}^{-}/{\mathrm{I}}^{-} redox electrolyte and dye, a novel flexible solar cell was fabricated in this study. The influence of PCBM/P3HT mass ratio on the photovoltaic performance of the solar cell was also studied. Under a simulated solar irradiation of 100 mW·cm^-2, the flexible solar cell achieved a light-to-electric energy conversion efficiency of 1.04%, an open circuit voltage of 0.86 V, short circuit current density of 2.6 mA·cm^-2 and fill factor (FF) of 0.46.

Keywords

flexible solar cell / heterojunction / [6,6]-phenyl-C₆₁-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) / poly (3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT)

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (No. 2009AA03Z217), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 90922028, 50842027, 51002053).

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2014 Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg