Quantifying bimolecular recombination losses in organic bulk heterojunction solar cells

Abstract

We present a new experimental technique that affords direct quantification of the fraction of charge carriers lost in poly(3-hexylthiophene):fullerene solar cells by bimolecular recombination. Depending on annealing conditions up to 17% of carriers recombine bimolecularly under solar illumination. We explain our findings with a closed analytical expression for the photocurrent generated by an organic solar cell. © 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.