Efficient organic photovoltaic cells with vertically ordered bulk heterojunctions

Nanoscale morphology has been proved to be the key parameter deciding the exciton dissociation and charge transportation in bulk heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells. In this paper, we report a kind of small molecular organic photovoltaic cell (OPV) with a vertically ordered BHJ prepared by the weak epitaxial growth method. By this method, zinc phthalocyanine (ZnPc) can easily be formed into a highly ordered and continuous thin film and C60 is inclined to become dispersed crystalline grains in ZnPc film. Furthermore, we can control both the size and distribution density of C60 crystalline grains in ZnPc thin film without destroying the order of the ZnPc thin film. The OPVs with the vertically ordered BHJ show a high fill factor and a power conversion efficiency over 3% has been achieved.