Enhanced performance of polymer:fullerene bulk heterojunction solar cells upon graphene addition

Journal Article · Mon Aug 25 00:00:00 EDT 2014 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4893777· OSTI ID:22310981

Robaeys, Pieter; Dierckx, Wouter; Dexters, Wim; Spoltore, Donato; Drijkoningen, Jeroen ^[1]; Bonaccorso, Francesco ^[2]; Bourgeois, Emilie; D'Haen, Jan; Haenen, Ken; Manca, Jean V.; Nesladek, Milos ^[1]; IMOMEC, IMEC vzw ^[3]; Liesenborgs, Jori; Van Reeth, Frank ^[4]; Lombardo, Antonio; Ferrari, Andrea C. ^[2]

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1. Institute for Materials Research (IMO), Hasselt University (Belgium)
2. Cambridge Graphene Centre, University of Cambridge, 9 JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge (United Kingdom)
3. Belgium
4. Expertise centre for Digital Media (EDM), Hasselt University (Belgium)

Graphene has potential for applications in solar cells. We show that the short circuit current density of P3HT (Poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl):PCBM((6,6)-Phenyl C61 butyric acid methyl ester) solar cells is enhanced by 10% upon the addition of graphene, with a 15% increase in the photon to electric conversion efficiency. We discuss the performance enhancement by studying the crystallization of P3HT, as well as the electrical transport properties. We show that graphene improves the balance between electron and hole mobilities with respect to a standard P3HT:PCBM solar cell.

• OSTI ID: 22310981
• Journal Information: Applied Physics Letters, Journal Name: Applied Physics Letters Journal Issue: 8 Vol. 105; ISSN APPLAB; ISSN 0003-6951
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
BALANCES
CONVERSION
CRYSTALLIZATION
CURRENT DENSITY
EFFICIENCY
ELECTRICAL FAULTS
ELECTRON MOBILITY
ELECTRONS
FULLERENES
GRAPHENE
HETEROJUNCTIONS
HOLE MOBILITY
PHOTONS
POLYMERS
SOLAR CELLS