Accelerated lifetime measurements of P3HT:PCBM solar cells

We describe in this article the quick optimization of bulk heterojunction organic solar cells based on poly-3-hexylthiophene and [6,6]-phenyl C-61 butyric acid methylester blend. Best cells are found to be based on 1: 1 in weight ratio and yield 3.6% power conversion efficiency under air-mass 1.5, 100mW/cm(2) illumination. On the optimized cells, ageing measurements have been realized to collect the absolute values of photovoltaic parameters along the time. On this study, accelerated lifetime has been calculated using the Arrhenius model for a first-order kinetic of degradation. According to the model, we can predict a long lifetime keeping more than 80% of the initial short-circuit current density after 1000 h of working. (c) 2006 Published by Elsevier B.V.