DOI: 10.1063/1.1345834 ISSN:
2.5% efficient organic plastic solar cells
Sean E. Shaheen, Christoph J. Brabec, N. Serdar Sariciftci, Franz Padinger, Thomas Fromherz, Jan C. Hummelen- Physics and Astronomy (miscellaneous)
We show that the power conversion efficiency of organic photovoltaic devices based on a conjugated polymer/methanofullerene blend is dramatically affected by molecular morphology. By structuring the blend to be a more intimate mixture that contains less phase segregation of methanofullerenes, and simultaneously increasing the degree of interactions between conjugated polymer chains, we have fabricated a device with a power conversion efficiency of 2.5% under AM1.5 illumination. This is a nearly threefold enhancement over previously reported values for such a device, and it approaches what is needed for the practical use of these devices for harvesting energy from sunlight.