Photo-induced changes in fundamental properties of organic solar cells

We report on the measurement of fundamental properties such as deep defects and hole mobility in poly-3-hexyl-thiophene (P3HT)/[6,6]-phenyl-C60-butyric acid methyl ester(PCBM) solar cells when the cells are exposed to solar radiation without any atmospheric exposure. It is found that the midgap defect density in P3HT and the interface density between P3HT and PCBM increase significantly upon light soaking along with a reduction in hole mobility in P3HT. The increase in defect density leads to a corresponding increase in reverse saturation current of the diode, and the corresponding decrease in open circuit voltage of the cell upon light soaking. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4711806]