Optical, electrical and photovoltaic properties of thermally annealed PPHT:DDE blend thin films Original Research Article

We have investigated the optical, electrical and photovoltaic properties of devices based on 1,2-diazoamino diphenyl ethane (DDE) and poly(3-phenyl hydrazone thiophene) (PPHT):DDE blend. It is observed from the J–V characteristics of the Al/DDE/ITO (ITO—indium tin oxide) device that the electron current injected from Al contact was shown to be space charge limited (SCL), indicating that Al forms nearly ohmic contact for electron injection into lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) of DDE. The effect of thermal annealing and composition, on the optical, electrical and photovoltaic response of blend of PPHT and DDE sandwiched between a transparent ITO electrode and an Al back contact are investigated. The observed absorption quenching in the PPHT:DDE blend is attributed to the disordering of PPHT chains and charge transfer between PPHT and DDE as evidenced by FTIR spectra. The observed red shift in the absorption peak on thermal annealing is due to the improvement in the ordering and increases in conjugation length in PPHT. The observed dark current–voltage curves agree well with trap-controlled SCL transport theory. The photophysics of the blend material and influence of thermal annealing on the performance and morphology of these devices were discussed. Annealing process results in the formation of PPHT:DDE complex and increase in the ordering of polymer chain, that increases the incident photon to current efficiency (IPCE) and power conversion efficiency of the photovoltaic devices.