Effect of PET and ITO substrates on PCE of bulk-heterojunction organic solar cells with P3HT:PCBM active layer

Abstract

Organic solar cells (OSCs) are one of the common types of solar cells which shows a high interest in photovoltaic devices. In this research, the performance of two OSC which are using PET/PEDOT: PSS/P3HT: PCBM/Al (device A) and ITO/ Glass/PEDOT: PSS/P3HT: PCBM/Al (device B) have been evaluated under illumination of light intensity 1000 W/m2. The effect of different substrates on photovoltaic performance has been investigated. The active materials used in this structure are poly (3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) as a donor and [6], [6]-phenyl-C60 butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) as an acceptor. The materials have been mixed by a ratio of 1:1 P3HT and PCBM. To obtain homogeneous mixture, chlorobenzene and 1, 2 dichlorobenzene solvents are utilized. The results obtained in this study show a drastic increase in power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the device fabricated on ITO substrate (Device B). Whereas the device A (fabricated on PET substrate) exhibit much lower PCE. According to the results obtained here the maximum short circuit current density, open circuit voltage, fill factor and power conversion efficiency values of the device B are 4.723 mA/cm2, 0.712 V, 36.1% and 1.21 %, respectively.