The effect of processing additive on aggregated fullerene derivatives in bulk-heterojunction polymer solar cells

The effects of processing additive on fullerene aggregation in polymer BHJ solar cells were investigated using new fullerene derivatives bearing a thiophene moiety and alkyl groups. Although new fullerene derivatives showed quite similar electronic transport properties in field-effect transistors, the photovoltaic performances were significantly limited by their aggregative nature. Processing with 1% CN additive, however, changed the aggregated morphology of BHJ films to a smoother and homogeneous morphology, improving photovoltaic performance. The result indicates that processing additive not only influences on polymer side, but also significantly affects fullerene acceptor component. (c) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.