Performance Of P3HT Research Articles

Synergistic effects of ultrasonication and the addition of a nucleating agent on improving the crystallization and performance of P3HT

Synergistic effects of ultrasonication and the addition of a nucleating agent on improving the crystallization and performance of P3HT

Theoretical Performance Analysis of Inverted P3HT: PCBM Based Bulk Hetero-Junction Organic Solar Cells through Simulation

In this study, the role of active layer thickness, hole transport layer thickness, and electron mobility on the performance of P3HT: PCBM-based inverted organic solar cells has been investigated. The simulation has been done for device structure ITO/ZnO/P3HT: PCBM/MoO3/Ag using the general-purpose photovoltaic device model (GPVDM) program tool. The short circuit current density (Jsc), open circuit voltage (Voc), fill factor (FF), and power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the cell were determined by varying the thickness of the active layer from 140 nm to 260 nm, the hole transparent layer from 10 nm to 40 nm, and electron mobility from 0.5 × 10−3 cm2V−1s−1 to 6.5 × 10−3 cm2V−1s−1. The PCE improvement was observed at 220 nm and 20 nm active layer and hole transporting layer thickness, respectively, for 4.5 × 10−3 cm2V−1s−1 electron mobility. The results confirmed that the thickness of the active layer, hole transport layer, and charge carrier mobility plays an important role in the performance improvement of organic solar cells.

Dependence of various oxide interfacial layers on the performance of P3HT:PCBM-based inverted organic solar cells

Dependence of various oxide interfacial layers on the performance of P3HT:PCBM-based inverted organic solar cells

Improving photovoltaic performance of P3HT: IC60BA based organic solar cell: N-type doping effect

In this paper we report a numerical simulation study for P3HT: IC60BA based organic solar cell with Analysis of Microelectronic and Photonic Structures the simulation one dimension software (AMPS-1D). Indeed, the N-type doping concentration (ND) effect on the organic solar cell performance is done. Moreover, a combination between the P-type doping concentration (NA) and N-type one (ND) is investigated. However, due to the relationship between doping and carriers charge mobility, the effect of ND for different electron mobilities (μn) is also studied. We showed a high efficiency of 5.88% that is achieved for particular values of NA = 1017 cm−3, ND = 2 × 1016 cm−3, μp = 3 × 10−4 cm2 V−1 s−1 and μn = 7 × 10−4 cm2 V−1 s−1. Thus, we noticed that the P-type doping remains more promising than N-type one for the device performance improvement. Furthermore, the validation of the obtained results by those experimentally reported in literature is realized. In addition, the doping of other BHJ OSC devices consisting of P3HT: IC70BA is studied; an optimum efficiency of about 6.32% is reached.

Impact of hybrid plasmonic nanoparticles on the charge carrier mobility of P3HT:PCBM polymer solar cells

The solution processable polymer solar cells have shown a great promise as a cost-effective photovoltaic technology. Here, the effect of carrier mobility changes has been comprehensively investigated on the performance of P3HT:PCBM polymer solar cells using electro-optical coupled simulation regimes, which may result from the embedding of SiO2@Ag@SiO2 plasmonic nanoparticles (NPs) in the active layer. Firstly, the active layer thickness, stemmed from the low mobility of the charge carriers, is optimized. The device with 80 nm thick active layer provided maximum power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 3.47%. Subsequently, the PCE has increased to 6.75% and 6.5%, respectively, along with the benefit of light scattering, near-fields and interparticle hotspots produced by embedded spherical and cubic nanoparticles. The PCE of the devices with incorporated plasmonic nanoparticles are remarkably enhanced up to 7.61% (for spherical NPs) and 7.35% (for cubic NPs) owing to the increase of the electron and hole mobilities to {upmu }_{e}=8times {10}^{-7} ,{text{m}}^{2}/text{V}/text{s} and {upmu }_{h}=4times {10}^{-7} ,{text{m}}^{2}/text{V}/text{s}, respectively (in the optimum case). Furthermore, SiO2@Ag@SiO2 NPs have been successfully synthesized by introducing and utilizing a simple and eco-friendly approach based on electroless pre-treatment deposition and Stober methods. Our findings represent a new facile approach in the fabrication of novel plasmonic NPs for efficient polymer solar cells.

Effect of Different Layers on the Performance of P3HT:PCBM-Based Organic Solar Cell

Effect of Different Layers on the Performance of P3HT:PCBM-Based Organic Solar Cell

SnO2 interlayer effects on the inverted polymer solar cells

By inserting a tin oxide (SnO2) thin film layer in between Fluorine-doped Tin Oxide (FTO) and titanium dioxide (TiO2) electron-selective layers, the performance of P3HT: PCBM based bulk-heterojunction type inverted polymer solar cells is considerably enhanced. A device with adding SnO2layer showed a significant increase in PCE of 2.87% with an improved short-circuit current from 6.8 mA/cm2 to 10.40 mA/cm2, compared to a reference device without SnO2 layer (2.18%). The relative increase in PCE value was 31.7%. Such enhancement is assigned to the excellent optical transparency and high electrical conductivity of the wide-band gap of SnO2thin film layer.

Polymer/Fullerene Blend Solar Cells with Cadmium Sulfide Thin Film as an Alternative Hole-Blocking Layer.

In this work, chemical bath-deposited cadmium sulfide (CdS) thin films were employed as an alternative hole-blocking layer for inverted poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) bulk heterojunction solar cells. CdS films were deposited by chemical bath deposition and their thicknesses were successfully controlled by tailoring the deposition time. The influence of the CdS layer thickness on the performance of P3HT:PCBM solar cells was systematically studied. The short circuit current densities and power conversion efficiencies of P3HT:PCBM solar cells strongly increased until the thickness of the CdS layer was increased to ~70 nm. This was attributed to the suppression of the interfacial charge recombination by the CdS layer, which is consistent with the lower dark current found with the increased CdS layer thickness. A further increase of the CdS layer thickness resulted in a lower short circuit current density due to strong absorption of the CdS layer as evidenced by UV-Vis optical studies. Both the fill factor and open circuit voltage of the solar cells with a CdS layer thickness less than ~50 nm were comparatively lower, and this could be attributed to the effect of pin holes in the CdS film, which reduces the series resistance and increases the charge recombination. Under AM 1.5 illumination (100 mW/cm2) conditions, the optimized PCBM:P3HT solar cells with a chemical bath deposited a CdS layer of thickness 70 nm and showed 50% power conversion efficiency enhancement, in comparison with similar solar cells with optimized dense TiO2 of 50 nm thickness prepared by spray pyrolysis.

Mesoscopic investigation of the effect of MWCNT/rGO network on the performance of P3HT:PC60BM solar cells

Abstract Bulk heterojunction (BHJ) photovoltaic cells (PVCs) have been fabricated with a new active layer architecture by introducing 1-dimensional (1D) multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and 2-dimensional (2D) reduced graphene oxide (rGO) in Poly[3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl] (P3HT): Phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PC60BM) blends. The fabricated solar cells revealed a maximum short-circuit current density (Jsc) of ∼11.01 mA/cm2, open-circuit voltage (Voc) of ∼0.63 V and fill factor (FF) of ∼0.5 yielding an efficiency of ∼4.13%. The improved efficiency has been attributed to the efficient exciton dissociation at the junctions formed by CNTs and rGOs in addition to PC60BM with P3HT. The faster electron-transport by PC60BM and hole by CNT/rGO network in the blend that inhibits the carrier recombination contribute significantly towards the improved performance of the fabricated PVCs. The effect of MWCNTs:rGOs network on the mesoscopic phase distribution of P3HT and PC60BM have also been investigated.

Incorporation of MoS2 nanoflakes into poly(3-hexylthiophene)/n-type Si devices to improve the rectification behavior and optoelectronic performance

This study determines the effect of incorporating MoS2 nanoflakes into poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) on the electrical conduction mechanisms using the rectification current–voltage characteristics of P3HT/n-type Si devices. It is shown that the forward-voltage current for P3HT/n-type Si devices is limited by the combined effect of thermionic emission and space-charge-limited current conduction. However, carrier transport for P3HT:MoS2/n-type Si devices in the forward-voltage region is almost dominated by thermionic emission. Incorporation of MoS2 nanoflakes into P3HT modifies the P3HT-Si interface and the values for the carrier mobility in the P3HT layer and the external quantum efficiency of the P3HT/n-type Si devices are significantly increased, which improves the rectification and optoelectronic performance of P3HT:MoS2/n-type Si devices.

Effect of methanol treatment on the performance of P3HT:PC71BM bulk heterojunction solar cells with various cathodes

The effect of an environmentally friendly methanol treatment on bulk heterojunction (BHJ) polymer solar cells based on poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and [6,6]-phenyl-C71-butyric acid methyl ester (PC71BM) with various cathodes (Al, Ca/Al, ZnO/Al, LiF/Al) is investigated. The results show the performance of polymer solar cells with various cathodes is enhanced after methanol treatment, and the device efficiency improvement exhibits a close relationship with the type of cathodes. The power conversion efficiency of the devices with Ca/Al cathode shows the maximum enhancement with methanol treatment, and increase by as large as 27.4% compare with that of the device with Ca/Al cathode without methanol treatment. The interface dipole coming from the interaction between the methanol and the active cathode metal (Ca) in P3HT:PC71BM BHJ solar cells is the main cause of device performance enhancement.

Factors affecting tacticity and aggregation of P3HT polymers in P3HT:PCBM blends

Optimising the performance of P3HT:PCBM (polymer–fullerene, P3HT – poly(3-hexylthiophene), PCBM – [6, 6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester) blends for solar cell applications is currently impeded by our lack of understanding of the effect of processing conditions on the resulting morphology of P3HT and hence its performance. The literature has generally overlooked studying the link between morphology and tacticity, which, in turn, affects charge mobility. The conformational change from trans to cis between adjacent thiophene rings in the P3HT backbone determines the tacticity of the polymer molecules. We used all-atom molecular dynamics simulations at 400 K, matching typical experimental processing temperatures, to unravel the molecular-level configuration changes that P3HT polymers undergo during processing, focusing here on temperature and shear. The effect of shear was included since it improves charge transport and polymer aggregation in polymer–fullerene blends. Our simulations implicate the side chains in initiating the polymer backbone twisting and curvature that we observe and, consequently, altering the trans-to-cis ratio (and hence mobility). Complementary density functional theory (DFT) calculations indicate that such tacticity conversions follow a rugged energy surface. The simulations also help explain the origin of disorder in the aggregation of polymer chains and shorter conjugation length, all of which are observed in experiments. Each individual polymer molecule’s response to local thermodynamic changes and the kinetics of neighbouring polymers guides its morphological evolution. Thus, we put forward the prominent role of tacticity in determining both kinetic and thermodynamic properties of this prototypical polymer–fullerene blend. As a result, we uncover two types of processing condition effects, one that directly affects polymer conformation (e.g. high temperature), and the other that directly changes the alignment between polymers (e.g. shear).

Effects of gold nanorods on the excited-state dynamics and photovoltaic performances of hybrid nanocomposites containing poly(3-hexylthiophene)

Poly(3-hexylthiophene)-stabilized gold nanorods (Au-NR@P3HT nanocomposites) have been facilely fabricated by incubating Au nanorods (NRs) with thiol-terminated P3HT to investigate the effects of Au NRs on the excited-state dynamics and photovoltaic performances of P3HT. The S1 decay of Au-NR@P3HT nanocomposites is found to be slower than that of pristine P3HT, suggesting that the stretched-strand conformation of P3HT chains attached to Au NRs makes structural relaxation more difficult. The amplitude of T1 absorption is much smaller in Au-NR@P3HT nanocomposites than in pristine P3HT, indicating that the intersystem crossing of S1 excitons into T1 excitons does not occur efficiently in Au-NR@P3HT nanocomposites due to the nonflexible character of aggregated P3HT chains. From the comparison of the performances of organic photovoltaic devices, we have found that the device with the 3 % embedding of Au-NR@P3HT nanocomposites into the P3HT matrix of the active layer shows significantly improved photovoltaic performances (27 % enhancement in the power conversion efficiency), suggesting that the surface-plasmon resonances of Au NRs enhance the dissociation as well as the generation of excitons highly.

Effect of trapping and temperature on the performance of P3HT: PCBM organic solar cells

The effects of trapping and temperature have been investigated in P3HT: PCBM bulk organic solar cells. We used the simulator tool SILVACO to model the current-voltage and the external quantum efficiency (EQE). We showed that good agreement with data measurements of solar cell parameters. The charge carrier mobility for electrons and holes has been varied taking into account the dependence of mobility with trapping concentration and temperature. We found that the highest efficiency is achieved with density of trapping that did not exceed 10−15–10−16cm2/V.s. The recombination process described by Sah-Shockley statistics caused by higher trapping concentrations limit the performance of the solar cell, whereas low concentrations trapping increase charge carriers mobility than increase Langevin Bimolecular recombination leading to a reduction of the open-circuit voltage and the efficiency. A maximum efficiency values found in range 220–250K du to the increase of short circuit current and The decrease of open circuit voltage with the increase in temperature.

Theoretical studies on the influence of graphene layers as an anode on the performance of P3HT:PC61BM and PTB7:PC71BM bulk heterojunction organic solar cells

In the present work, photovoltaic properties of P3HT:PC61BM bulk heterojunction solar cells based on graphene anode are investigated using the transfer matrix model and drift-diffusion model for optical and electrical performances, respectively. First, we study the effect of the number of graphene layers on optical and electrical performance. Light absorption and total exciton generation rate in active layer as well as photovoltaic parameters including the short circuit current density, open circuit voltage, fill factor, and power conversion efficiency are determined. The optoelectronic model suggests that short circuit current density decreases upon increasing the number of graphene layers, which is attributed to the reduction of light absorption in the active layer. Power conversion efficiency is found to be between 3.49 and 4.31 % for various numbers of graphene layers. Based on the calculation results, five-layer graphene anode is found to have the same sheet resistance as 150 nm-thick ITO anode. Second, the performance of five-layer graphene-based organic solar cell is compared with that of ITO-based anode device. The results indicate that the former can reach 84 % power conversion efficiency of the latter. Finally, P3HT:PC61BM replaces with PTB7:PC71BM as the active layer and its influence on device performance is studied.

掺杂石墨烯量子点对P3HT∶PCBM太阳能电池性能的影响

掺杂石墨烯量子点对P3HT∶PCBM太阳能电池性能的影响

Lead Iodide as a New Type of Hole Transport Layer for the High Performance of P3HT:PC<sub>61</sub>BM-Based Solar Cells

Lead Iodide as a New Type of Hole Transport Layer for the High Performance of P3HT:PC<sub>61</sub>BM-Based Solar Cells

Effect of boric acid doped PEDOT:PSS layer on the performance of P3HT:PCBM based organic solar cells

In this study, we fabricated PEDOT:PSS film with different concentrations 0–5mg/ml of boric acid (H3BO3) doped PEDOT:PSS film as hole collector layer. Undoped and boric acid doped PEDOT:PSS films are prepared with spin coating technique and characterized by XRD, UV, AFM, FTIR and electrical conductivity measurements. We fabricated polymer solar cells in the form of ITO/PEDOT:PSS:H3BO3/P3HT:PCBM/Al. Results show that the open-circuit voltage (Voc) and the fill factor (FF) increased by introducing H3BO3 as dopant into the PEDOT:PSS layer due to an increase in the work function of PEDOT:PSS layer and improvement of surface roughness, respectively. The solar cells without H3BO3 showed a power conversion efficiency PCE of 1.79% whereas the cells with H3BO3 concentration of 1.25mg/ml in PEDOT:PSS, showed a higher performance resulting in a PCE of 2.14% under AM 1.5G illumination.

Impact of solution casting temperature on power conversion efficiencies of bulk heterojunction organic solar cells

Abstract The power conversion efficiency (PCE) of P3HT:PCBM bulk heterojunction solar cells highly depend on the processing conditions of the blend film. Among many factors investigated, the effect of blend solution temperature for spin casting on PCE of solar cells is currently missing in the literature. In this work, we have systematically analyzed the effect of solution casting temperature on solar cell performance of P3HT:PCBM bulk heterojunction layer. We have found that the ideal casting temperature is ∼60 °C for the blends. Further annealing of the blend does not change the surface morphology substantially at the ideal temperature as opposed to the films prepared at other temperatures.

The influence of sequential ligand exchange and elimination on the performance of P3HT:CdSe quantum dot hybrid solar cells

We report on a sequential ligand exchange and elimination process for the fast and easy surface modification of CdSe quantum dots (QDs) in order to improve the electronic interaction between poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and CdSe QDs in P3HT:CdSe hybrid solar cells. We systematically investigated the influence of surface treatment on the insulating ligand shell of CdSe QDs using 1H-NMR analysis, and correlated their influence on the photovoltaic properties of P3HT:CdSe hybrid solar cells. A decrease in the average thickness of the ligand shells directly improved carrier transport properties. Moreover, the presence of remnant 1-hexylamine ligands provided efficient surface trap passivation. As a result, overall solar cell performance (especially fill factor and power conversion efficiency) was enhanced and the recombination mechanism was dominated by monomolecular recombination due to enhanced carrier collection length (lC0).