Highly efficient organic solar cells based on a poly(2,7-carbazole) derivative

Abstract

We have studied the utilization of PCDTBT, an alternating poly(2,7-carbazole) derivative, in organic bulk heterojunction solar cells. The effect of polymer molecular weight, PCDTBT:[60]PCBM ratio, and active layer thickness on the device performance is reported. The best performance was obtained when the number-average molecular weights (M_n) are around 20 kDa with a polydispersity index around 2.2. Both PCDTBT:[60]PCBM ratio and active layer thickness affect the light absorption and the charge transport properties. By optimizing these two parameters, power conversion efficiency (PCE) up to 4.35% was reached under calibrated AM1.5G illumination of 100 mW cm⁻². When blended with [70]PCBM, PCDTBT exhibited a PCE up to 4.6%.