Effect of donor weight in a P3HT:PCBM blended layer on the characteristics of a polymer photovoltaic cell

Abstract

The dependence of the weight of the electron-donating material, poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) (P3HT), and electron-accepting material, [6,6]-phenyl C-61 butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM), on the photovoltaic characteristics of a polymer photovoltaic (PV) cell was investigated. A P3HT weight varied, the dependence of the power-conversion efficiency (PCE) on the weight of P3HT was similar to that of the short-circuit current (J (SC) ), but not that of to the open-circuit voltage (V (OC) ) and the fill factor (FF). That trend is associated with the fact that the absorbance of light and the carrier transport resistance strongly depend on the weight P3HT. In particular, the PCE and J (SC) of a cell with a specific weight ratio of P3HT to PCBM, i.e., P3HT (0.0266 g):PCBM (0.0133 g), were maximized, 3.48% and 8.43 mA/cm(2), which were improvements of 676 and 532%, respectively. The weight P3HT in the P3HT:PCBM blended layer strongly influenced the J (SC) of the polymer PV cell.