Photoconductivity of thin organic films

Abstract

Thin organic films were deposited on silicon oxide surfaces with golden interdigitated electrodes (interelectrode gap was 2 μm), and the film resistivities were measured in dark and under white light illumination. The compounds selected for the measurements include molecules widely used in solar cell applications, such as polythiophene ( PHT), fullerene ( C 60 ), pyrelene tetracarboxylic diimide ( PTCDI) and copper phthalocyanine ( CuPc), as well as molecules potentially interesting for photovoltaic applications, e.g. porphyrin–fullerene dyads. The films were deposited using thermal evaporation (e.g. for C 60 and CuPc films), spin coating for PHT, and Langmuir–Schaeffer for the layer-by-layer deposition of porphyrin–fullerene dyads. The most conducting materials in the series are films of PHT and CuPc with resistivities 1.2 × 10 3 Ω m and 3 × 10 4 Ω m, respectively. Under light illumination resistivity of all films decreases, with the strongest light effect observed for PTCDI, for which resistivity decreases by 100 times, from 3.2 × 10 8 Ω m in dark to 3.1 × 10 6 Ω m under the light.