Effects of Magnetic Nanoparticles and External Magnetostatic Field on the Bulk Heterojunction Polymer Solar Cells
- Univ. of Akron, OH (United States). College of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering
- Univ. of Akron, OH (United States). College of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering; South China Univ. of Technology, Guangzhou (China). State Key Lab. of Luminescent Materials and Devices
The price of energy to separate tightly bound electron-hole pair (or charge-transfer state) and extract freely movable charges from low-mobility materials represents fundamental losses for many low-cost photovoltaic devices. In bulk heterojunction (BHJ) polymer solar cells (PSCs), approximately 50% of the total efficiency lost among all energy loss pathways is due to the photogenerated charge carrier recombination within PSCs and low charge carrier mobility of disordered organic materials. To address these issues, we introduce magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) and orientate these MNPS within BHJ composite by an external magnetostatic field. Over 50% enhanced efficiency was observed from BHJ PSCs incorporated with MNPs and an external magnetostatic field alignment when compared to the control BHJ PSCs. The optimization of BHJ thin film morphology, suppression of charge carrier recombination, and enhancement in charge carrier collection result in a greatly increased short-circuit current density and fill factor, as a result, enhanced power conversion efficiency.
- Research Organization:
- Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Advanced Photon Source (APS)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); National Science Foundation (NSF)
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC02-06CH11357
- OSTI ID:
- 1177694
- Journal Information:
- Scientific Reports, Vol. 5, Issue 03, 2015; ISSN 2045-2322
- Publisher:
- Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- ENGLISH
Web of Science
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