Polymeric nanocomposite infrared photovoltaics enhanced by pentacene

An infrared active thin film polymeric photovoltaic device is fabricated from regioregular poly(3-hexylthiophene), PbSe quantum dots, and the organic semiconductor pentacene. The PbSe quantum dots are infrared photosensitizers. Pentacene is incorporated into the formulation in a soluble precursor form. The current-voltage measurements of the device show that the photovoltaic performance is significantly increased by the introduction of pentacene, with both short-circuit current density and open-circuit voltage increased by a factor of 2. The improved performance of the device is attributed to the high mobility of charge carriers in pentacene probably due to conducting domains provided by it. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.