Conducting Polymer Solar

Cells
Chemistry Self Study
Department Of Chemistry

Abhinav Sapare
Mechanical Engineering
Introduction to Solar Cells
Doped p-n junction
Photons impinge on junction
E>band gap
Photoelectric effect
Light incident and photocurrent-proportional
Why polymer cells?
High cost of inorganic cells
Inexpensive to fabricate
Flexibility
Eco-friendly
Transparency
Device operation
Conduction based on electron delocalization along pi-pi
bonds.(Carbon p orbital hybridization)
Photon absorption
Formation of exciton*
HOMO to LUMO transition
Donor-conjugated polymer
Acceptor-Fullerene
Formation of polaron and radical anion
Architecture-Planar Heterojunction
Simple planar heterojunction-
Active polymer & acceptor sandwiched together
Diffusion lengths in o-semiconductors very large
Requires thin cells-
Absorb less light
Less efficient
Architecture Continued
Use of Bulk HJ
Small domain size
Sufficient electrochemical potential drop
Carrier transport rate > back transfer rate
Higher electron and hole mobility
Effect of Solvents
Device efficiency
Spin coating
Evaporation
Change in donor-acceptor morphology
-Reduces phase separation
Future Scope
Increased efficiency-match up to that of solar cells
Use in construction technology-
i. Use of lightweight modules
ii. Integration into glass, metal, concrete
.Flexible sensors
Challenges
Minimizing energy loss at donor acceptor interface
Higher absorption coefficient of polymer
Appropriate domain sizes (<10nm)
Literature Review
Breeze A. et al, researched a novel polymer based device
in 2001. Electron conducting perylene benzimidazole
(PBI) films are thermally evaporated to a thickness of 18
nm. The hole conducting polymer, poly[2,5-dimethoxy-
1,4-phenylene-1,2-ethenylene-2-methoxy-5-(2-
ethylhexyloxy)-1,4-phenylene-1,2-ethenylene (M3EH-
PPV), is then spin cast from a solution in chlorobenzene
to create films of 30 nm thickness. These photoactive
layers are sandwiched between patterned indium tin
oxide (ITO) and gold electrodes. They demonstrated that
using a polymer/perylene bilayer device showed
Literature Review
Alex M. also studied the use of conjugated polymers and
found that polymer based solar cells are approaching
power conversion efficiencies that make them
competitive with CO2-producing technologies. The
record efficiencies have been observed in disordered
nanostructured heterojunctions but further gains are
expected upon optimizing ordered nanostructure
architectures
 References
-Breeze A., et al (2001). Photovoltaic Cells Based on Conducting
Polymers and Perylene Diimides. National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
Colorado.

-Li G., Zhu. R., Yang Y.,(2012). Polymer Solar Cells. Nature Photonics,
153-161.

-M., J. (2016, May 2). The Future of Low Cost Solar Cells. Retrieved from
Chemical and Engineering News:
http://cen.acs.org/articles/94/i18/future-low-cost-solar-cells.html

-Mayer A., Scully S., et al (2007, November). Polymer Based Solar Cells.
Materials Today, pp. 28-33.

-Gunes, S., et al., Chem. Rev. (2007) 107, 1324