Adv Polym Sci (2014) 265: 181–232
DOI: 10.1007/12_2014_289
© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014
Published online: 13 September 2014
P3HT-Based Solar Cells: Structural
Properties and Photovoltaic Performance
Adam J. Moule ´, Dieter Neher, and Sarah T. Turner
Abstract Each year we are bombarded with B.Sc. and Ph.D. applications from
students that want to improve the world. They have learned that their future depends
on changing the type of fuel we use and that solar energy is our future. The hope and
energy of these young people will transform future energy technologies, but it will
not happen quickly. Organic photovoltaic devices are easy to sketch, but the
materials, processing steps, and ways of measuring the properties of the materials
are very complicated. It is not trivial to make a systematic measurement that will
change the way other research groups think or practice. In approaching this chapter,
we thought about what a new researcher would need to know about organic
photovoltaic devices and materials in order to have a good start in the subject.
Then, we simplified that to focus on what a new researcher would need to know
about poly-3-hexylthiophene:phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester blends (P3HT:
PCBM) to make research progress with these materials. This chapter is by no means
authoritative or a compendium of all things on P3HT:PCBM. We have selected to
explain how the sample fabrication techniques lead to control of morphology and
structural features and how these morphological features have specific optical and
electronic consequences for organic photovoltaic device applications.
Keywords Free carrier generation Á Non-geminate recombination Á Organic solar
cells
A.J. Moule ´ (*)
Department of Chemical Engineering and Material Science, University of California – Davis,
Davis, CA 95616, USA
e-mail: amoule@ucdavis.edu
D. Neher (*) and S.T. Turner
Institute of Physics and Astronomy, University of Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24-25,
14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany
e-mail: neher@uni-potsdam.de
DOI: 10.1007/12_2014_289
© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014
Published online: 13 September 2014
P3HT-Based Solar Cells: Structural
Properties and Photovoltaic Performance
Adam J. Moule ´, Dieter Neher, and Sarah T. Turner
Abstract Each year we are bombarded with B.Sc. and Ph.D. applications from
students that want to improve the world. They have learned that their future depends
on changing the type of fuel we use and that solar energy is our future. The hope and
energy of these young people will transform future energy technologies, but it will
not happen quickly. Organic photovoltaic devices are easy to sketch, but the
materials, processing steps, and ways of measuring the properties of the materials
are very complicated. It is not trivial to make a systematic measurement that will
change the way other research groups think or practice. In approaching this chapter,
we thought about what a new researcher would need to know about organic
photovoltaic devices and materials in order to have a good start in the subject.
Then, we simplified that to focus on what a new researcher would need to know
about poly-3-hexylthiophene:phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester blends (P3HT:
PCBM) to make research progress with these materials. This chapter is by no means
authoritative or a compendium of all things on P3HT:PCBM. We have selected to
explain how the sample fabrication techniques lead to control of morphology and
structural features and how these morphological features have specific optical and
electronic consequences for organic photovoltaic device applications.
Keywords Free carrier generation Á Non-geminate recombination Á Organic solar
cells
A.J. Moule ´ (*)
Department of Chemical Engineering and Material Science, University of California – Davis,
Davis, CA 95616, USA
e-mail: amoule@ucdavis.edu
D. Neher (*) and S.T. Turner
Institute of Physics and Astronomy, University of Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24-25,
14476 Potsdam-Golm, Germany
e-mail: neher@uni-potsdam.de