The Effect of PCBM Dimerization on the Performance of Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells

Distler A, Sauermann T, Egelhaaf HJ, Rodman S, Waller D, Cheon KS, Lee M, Guldi DM (2013)

Publication Type: Journal article, Original article

Publication year: 2013

Journal

Advanced Energy Materials Wiley

Original Authors: Distler A., Sauermann T., Egelhaaf H.-J., Rodman S., Waller D., Cheon K.-S., Lee M., Guldi D.M.

Publisher: Wiley-VCH Verlag

DOI: 10.1002/aenm.201300693

Abstract

Increasing the lifetime of polymer based organic solar cells is still a major challenge. Here, the photostability of bulk heterojunction solar cells based on the polymer poly[4,4'-bis(2-ethylhexyl)dithieno[3,2-b:2',3'-d]silole)-2,6-diyl-alt-[2,5-bis(3-tetradecylthiophen-2-yl)thiazole[5,4-d]thiazole)-1,8-diyl] (PDTSTzTz) and the fullerene [6,6]-phenyl-C-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) under inert atmosphere is investigated. Correlation of electrical measurements on complete devices and UV-vis absorption measurements as well as high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis on the active materials reveals that photodimerization of PCBM is responsible for the observed degradation. Simulation of the electrical device parameters shows that this dimerization results in a significant reduction of the charge carrier mobility. Both the dimerization and the associated device performance loss turn out to be reversible upon annealing. BisPCBM, the bis-substituted analog of PCBM, is shown to be resistant towards light exposure, which in turn enables the manufacture of photostable PDTSTzTz:bisPCBM solar cells. © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Authors with CRIS profile

Andreas Distler Lehrstuhl für Physikalische Chemie I Tobias Sauermann Institute Materials for Electronics and Energy Technology (i-MEET) Andreas Distler Institute Materials for Electronics and Energy Technology (i-MEET) Dirk Michael Guldi Lehrstuhl für Physikalische Chemie I

Involved external institutions

BELECTRIC OPV GmbH DE Germany (DE) Konarka Technologies, Inc. US United States (USA) (US)

How to cite

APA:

Distler, A., Sauermann, T., Egelhaaf, H.-J., Rodman, S., Waller, D., Cheon, K.-S.,... Guldi, D.M. (2013). The Effect of PCBM Dimerization on the Performance of Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells. Advanced Energy Materials. https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.201300693

MLA:

Distler, Andreas, et al. "The Effect of PCBM Dimerization on the Performance of Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells." Advanced Energy Materials (2013).

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