Correlation between oxidation potential and open-circuit voltage of composite solar cells based on blends of polythiophenes/fullerene derivative

The photovoltaic parameters of donor/acceptor blend organic solar cells are highly influenced by several parameters, such as the strength of the acceptor species, the morphology of the film due to the solvent, and the mobility of the free charge carriers. In this work, the open-circuit voltage (V-oc) of solar cells based on series of conjugated polythiophene polymers were measured and compared. In every cell, the donor polymer was blended with an electron acceptor fullerene molecule. The devices were constructed in a sandwich structure with indium tin oxide (ITO)/metallic polymer (PEDOT:PSS) acting as an anode and Al or LiF/Al acting as a cathode. Comparing the V-oc of all the cells shows that this important photovoltaic parameter is systematically varying with the polymer. The variation of photovoltage is attributed to the variation of the oxidation potential of the donor conjugated polymers after due consideration of the different injection conditions in the varying polymers. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.