Recent development of graphene materials applied in polymer solar cell

Graphene, a rapidly rising star on the horizon of material science, has a unique two-dimensional nanostructure as well as exceptional mechanical, optical and electronic properties. Despite its short history, graphene has exhibited great potential applications in counter electrodes, acceptor and hole transporting layers of polymer solar cells. This astonishing achievement is the subject of this article, which reviews the developments in counter electrodes, hole transporting layers and acceptor of polymer solar cells based on graphene materials in the past five years. Polymer solar cells evolve in an exponential manner in the three key areas of power conversion efficiency stability and flexibility. In this review, we summarized briefly the effect of functional graphene sheets on power conversion efficiency and stability, and also pointed out the prospective development trends of functional graphene sheets to be applied in polymer solar cells in the future. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.