Efficiency enhancement of P3HT/PCBM bulk heterojunction solar cells by attaching zinc phthalocyanine to the chain-end of P3HT

Abstract

A new solution processable zinc phthalocyanine dye (ZnPc), as an interface modifier between poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and [6,6]-phenyl-C₆₁-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) in bulk heterojunction solar cells, was successively synthesized and linked to the chain-end of P3HT through the formation of a coordination complex. ZnPc dye molecules do not aggregate but preferentially locate at the interface between P3HT and PCBM, and thus contribute to the photocurrent generation by both direct photo-excitation and enhancement of charge transfer between P3HT and PCBM. To localize the zinc phthalocyanine dyes at the donor–acceptor interface more effectively, another new organic dye molecule, fullerene-functionalized zinc phthalocyanine (ZnPc-C₆₀) was also synthesized and linked to the chain-end of the P3HT, where ZnPc-C₆₀ contributes not only to the photocurrent generation by direct photo-excitation, but also lowers the interfacial tension, resulting in the reduction of the domain size and the suppression of the macrophase separation of the P3HT/PCBM blend for prolonged thermal annealing. This leads to higher device efficiency with 20% enhancement of the short circuit current and to enhancement of long-term thermal stability of device performance as compared to that of the reference P3HT/PCBM device.