Effect of molecular electrical doping on polyfuran based photovoltaic cells

Abstract

The electronic, optical, and morphological properties of molecularly p-doped polyfuran (PF) films were investigated over a wide range of doping ratio in order to explore the impact of doping in photovoltaic applications. We find evidence for integer-charge transfer between PF and the prototypical molecular p-dopant tetrafluoro-tetracyanoquinodimethane (F4TCNQ) and employed the doped polymer in bilayer organic solar cells using fullerene as acceptor. The conductivity increase in the PF films at dopant loadings ≤2% significantly enhances the short-circuit current of photovoltaic devices. For higher doping ratios, however, F4TCNQ is found to precipitate at the heterojunction between the doped donor polymer and the fullerene acceptor. Ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy reveals that its presence acts beneficial to the energy-level alignment by doubling the open-circuit voltage of solar cells from 0.2 V to ca. 0.4 V, as compared to pristine PF.