Fabrication and Performance of Organic Thin Film Solar Cells Using the Brush Painting Method

Abstract

As organic solar thin films fabricated by an active layer of organic materials are economical, lightweight, and flexible, as well as facilitating processing, organic solar cells have attracted considerable attention within the past few decades as a clean energy source. With this in mind, there have been global investigations and studies of the power conversion efficiency (PCE) within organic solar cells. In organic thin-film solar cells, the effect of the performance is not only dependent on an adopted active material but also the molecular orientation on the electrode. Using the mixed solution of Poly (3-hexylthiophene) and PCBM, both dissolved by solvent, an organic thin film is fabricated using the paint method (The conceptual diagram of the paint method is shown in Fig. 1) The form of the thin film was evaluated, an organic thin-film solar cell using the paint method for the active layer was made, and its performance was evaluated and examined. Using the mixed solution of Poly(3-hexylthiophene) and PCBM, both dissolved by solvent, an organic thin film is fabricated using the paint method (The conceptual diagram of the paint method is shown in Fig. 1) The morphology of the thin film was evaluated using an AFM image, UV/vis spectra, and so forth. Based on these data, an organic thin-film solar cell that used the paint method for the active layer was fabricated, and the performance was evaluated and examined. For the organic thin film solar cell fabricated using the brush painting method, the open-circuit voltage (Voc) is 0.41 V, the short circuit current density (Jsc) is 2.07 mA/cm2, and the fill factor is 0.34. The efficiency η of PCE becomes 0.29%.