Effect of fabrication processes on bulk heterojunctions (BHJ) photovoltaic device performance

Organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices have attracted much interest in recent decades because they have a great potential for low cost solar cells. Among different kinds of organic solar cells, conjugated polymer/fullerene bulk heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells have exhibited improvements in the power conversion efficiency (PCE) in recent years. The performance of BHJ solar cells is highly dependent on different fabrication processes. To address this issue, we focus on the dependence of different photovoltaic parameters on the fabrication methods. BHJ solar cells fabricated using platinum metallopolyyne (P1) with a low band gap of 1.85 eV as an electron donor and phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) as an electron acceptor have been studied. The fabrication parameters, such as ratios of P1 to PCBM, solvents used, thickness of the active layers and top contact materials, have been systematically investigated. Blend ratio and solvent used had most significant influence on photovoltaic performance with several times higher efficiency of the best condition compared to the worst condition. They affected all photovoltaic parameters [open circuit voltage (V_oc), short circuit current density (J_sc) and the fill factor (FF)]. Top contact materials affected the V_oc and the FF, while thickness of the active layer mainly affected the J_sc and FF. The influence of different fabrication conditions on photovoltaic performance has been discussed.