Spectroscopic investigation of charge injection process in the bulk-heterojunction P3HT: PCBM solar cell

Abstract

The effect of charge injection in solar cells is usually difficult to examine although it is expected to highly affect the solar cell operation. The effect of charge injection on the operation of bulk-heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells made from blend films of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and methanofullerene (PCBM) is studied using a spectroscopic technique combined with modulation of applied bias, termed a device modulation (DM) spectroscopic technique. The DM measurements enable selective detection of spectroscopic signals from injected P3HT polarons. The voltage dependent-DM measurements in the dark condition reveal the starting point bias of charge injection (∼0 V) and the voltage-dependence of the polaron density, directly from the spectroscopic signals. The frequency dependence of DM signals in the dark condition demonstrates that a bimolecular recombination process dominates the loss mechanism for the injected polarons. © 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.