Improved Film Morphology Reduces Charge Carrier Recombination into the Triplet Excited State in a Small Bandgap Polymer-Fullerene Photovoltaic Cell

The use of diiodooctane as processing additive for construction of PCPDTBT: PCBM solar cells results in a profound change in photophysical behavior of this blend. In the improved morphology obtained with the additive, recombination of charge carriers to the lowest triplet excited state is suppressed. This contributes to the boost in solar power conversion efficiency induced by the use of the processing agent.