Enhanced charge collection in confined bulk heterojunction organic solar cells

Confining blended poly(3-hexylthiophene) and [6,6]-phenyl-C(61)-butyric acid methyl ester organic solar cell active layers within nanometer-scale cylindrical pores nearly double the supported short-circuit photocurrent density compared to equivalent unconfined volumes of the same blend and increases the poly(3-hexylthiophene) hole mobility in the blend by nearly 500 times. Grazing incidence x-ray diffraction measurements show that the confinement changes the polymer orientation distribution, suppressing low charge conductivity orientations while simultaneously disrupting polymer ordering. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3651509]