Bulk heterojunction organic photovoltaic (BHJ–OPV) devices have been the topic of ever increasing research efforts due to their potential to result in printable, inexpensive solar cells which can be processed onto fl exible substrates. [ 1–3 ] Typically, the active layer of the BHJ consists of an interpenetrating network of electrondonating conjugated polymers and electron-accepting fullerenes....

Small molecules with dithieno[3,2-b;2',3'-d]thiophene as central building block and octyl cyanoacetate and octyl cyanoacetamide as different terminal building blocks have been designed and synthesized. The amide containing small molecule can form intermolecular hydrogen bonding between N-H...O = C of the amide group. The photovoltaic properties and active layer morphologies of the two molecules...

Bulk heterojunction (BHJ) organic photovoltaic (OPV) promise low cost solar energy and have caused an explosive increase in investigations during the last decade. Control over the 3D morphology of BHJ blend films in various length scales is one of the pillars accounting for the significant advance of OPV performance recently. In this contribution, we focus on the strategy of incorporating an ad...

We investigate the internal quantum efficiencies (IQEs) of high efficiency poly-3-hexylthiophene:[6,6]-phenyl-C(61)-butyric acid methyl ester (P3HT:PCBM) solar cells and find them to be lower at wavelengths where the PCBM absorbs. Because the exciton diffusion length in PCBM is too small, excitons generated in PCBM decay before reaching the donor-acceptor interface. This result has implications...

The performance of hybrid solar cells composed of polymer and ZnO is mainly hindered by the defects of ZnO. Here, we investigate the effects of ZnO nanoparticle surface modification with poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) on the performance of bulk heterojunction hybrid solar cells based on poly[2-methoxy-5-(2′-ethyl-hexyloxy)-1,4-phenylene vinylene] (MEH-PPV) and ZnO nanoparticles. The reference devic...

Photovoltaic phenomenon was first observed by E. Becquerel (Becquerel) in 1839. He observed the electric current-lit silver electrode, immersed in the electrolyte. In 1894, taking advantage of the observed photoconductivity phenomenon in amorphous selenium the semiconductor solar cell was developed. The very first silicon p-n junction solar cell was made in 1954, energy conversion efficiency of...