Modeling photocurrent transients in organic solar cells

We investigate the transient photocurrents of organic photovoltaic devices in response to a sharp turn-on of illumination, by numerical modeling of the drift-diffusion equations. We show that the photocurrent turn-on dynamics are determined not only by the transport dynamics of free charges, but also by the time required for the population of geminate charge pairs to reach its steady-state value. The dissociation probability of a geminate charge pair is found to be a key parameter in determining the device performance, not only by controlling the efficiency at low intensities, but also in determining the fate of charge pairs formed by bimolecular recombination at high intensities. Bimolecular recombination is shown to reduce the turn-on time at high intensities, since the typical distance traveled by a charge pair is reduced.