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Fast Screening of the Optimal Polymer Ratio for Organic Solar Cells Using a Spray‐Coating Deposition Method for the Fullerene Mixture
Author(s) -
Lee Jaehyeong,
Sagawa Takashi,
Yoshikawa Susumu
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
energy technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.91
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 2194-4296
pISSN - 2194-4288
DOI - 10.1002/ente.201200011
Subject(s) - fullerene , materials science , deposition (geology) , organic solar cell , coating , polymer , chemical engineering , nanotechnology , composite material , organic chemistry , chemistry , engineering , biology , paleontology , sediment
Bulk‐heterojunction organic solar cells generate electrical power from light absorption in the active layer and consist of a mixture of electron donor and acceptor materials. The donor/acceptor ratio is one of the critical parameters that determines the electrical characteristics of bulk‐heterojunction solar cells. Therefore, the optimal ratio of the donor/acceptor must be determined to achieve maximum efficiency in bulk‐heterojunction solar cells. In this work, modified spray‐ or mist‐coating methods are applied to control the donor/acceptor ratio systematically and continuously. The feasibility of this processing method for polymer‐ratio screening is investigated by monitoring the morphological and optical properties of polymer solar cells based on poly(3‐hexylthiophene) (P3HT)/[6,6]‐phenyl C61 butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM). Finally, the optimum ratio of P3HT/PCBM is obtained by increasing the ratio of P3HT/PCBM gradually. This study provides a strong and practical screening method to define the critical mixture ratio among the enormous number of polymer–fullerene combinations.