Photoconductivity of Low-Bandgap Polymer and Polymer: Fullerene Bulk Heterojunction Studied by Constant Photocurrent Method

Abstract

AbstractOptical and photoelectric properties of modern photosensitive polymers are of great interest due to their prospects for photovoltaic applications. In particular, an investigation of absorption and photoconductivity edge of these materials could provide valuable information. For these purpose we applied the constant photocurrent method which has proved its efficiency for inorganic materials. PCDTBT and PTB7 polymers were used as objects for the study as well as their blends with a fullerene derivative PC71BM. The measurements by constant photocurrent method (CPM) show that formation of bulk heterojunction (BHJ) in the blends increases photoconductivity and results in a redshift of the photocurrent edge in the doped polymers compared with that in the neat polymers. Obtained from CPM data, spectral dependences of absorption coefficient were approximated using Gaussian distribution of density-of-states within HOMO (highest occupied molecular orbital) and LUMO (lowest unoccupied molecular orbital) bands. The approximation procedure allowed us to evaluate rather optical than electrical bandgaps for the studied materials. Moreover, spectra of polymer:PC71BM blends were fitted well by the sum of two Gaussian peaks which reveal both the transitions within the polymer and the transitions involving charge transfer states at the donor-acceptor interface in the BHJ.