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Using Neutron Spin Echo Resolved Grazing Incidence Scattering to Investigate Organic Solar Cell Materials
Published on: January 15, 2014
Mechanism of recombination losses in bulk heterojunction P3HT:PCBM solar cells studied using intensity modulated
Joshua C Byers1, Scott Ballantyne, Konstantin Rodionov
1Department of Chemistry, The University of Western Ontario , London, Ontario N6A 5B7, Canada.
Abstract:
Intensity modulated photocurrent (IMPS) and photovoltage (IMVS) spectroscopies were used to study the mechanism of photoprocesses in P3HT:PCBM bulk heterojunction organic solar cells at various light intensities. The use of the frequency domain techniques allowed us to separate the bulk and interfacial processes and gain a valuable insight into the mechanism of losses in these devices. The results provide direct evidence that interfacial nongeminate recombination is one of the dominant loss and aging mechanisms in bulk heterojunction organic solar cells. The trapping of photoexcited holes in the P3HT phase was found to contribute to the increased recombination rate. The results suggest that promising ways of improving the efficiency of bulk heterojunction solar cells may be reducing the charge trapping both at and near the P3HT:PCBM interface, as well as improving the efficiency of charge extraction at contacts.
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