Conjugated Polymer for Charge Transporting Applications in Solar Cells

Abstract

AbstractSolar cells based on semiconductor heterojunction demonstrate tunable interfaces and high efficiency, showing great potentials in future applications. In heterojunction solar cells, charge transport materials play critical roles in carrier conductivity, recombination kinetics, and charge collection efficiency, which in turn significantly influence the photovoltaic parameters as well as the stability of solar cells. Traditional inorganic and molecular conductors exhibit high promises in optoelectronic properties, however, they are somewhat facing challenges in high material cost, poor device stability, and sophisticated fabricating processes. Alternatively, conducting polymers have been recently recognized as promising charge transport materials due to their advantages of high conductivity, tunable work function, controllable transmittance, and high stability. Careful design and optimization of polymer chemical structures have promoted fast development in tuning their optoelectronic properties and enhancing photovoltaic performance. Therefore, in this chapter, we summarize the recent progress of strategies in designing new conducting polymer materials as a charge transport medium for solar cell application. The current challenges and prospects in the future development of polymer-based charge conductors are discussed.KeywordsConjugated polymersElectron-transporting materialsHole-transporting materialsPerovskite solar cellsHybrid photovoltaics