Dye-based donor/acceptor solar cells

We have fabricated organic donor/acceptor solar cells with three different architectures using soluble derivatives (dyes) of the molecular semiconductors phthalocyanine as electron donor (D), i.e. hole transport material and perylene as electron acceptor (A), i.e. electron transport material. These architectures comprise a blend and a double layer structure as well as the only recently reported laminated-device structure. The organic semiconducting films were deposited at room temperature via spin coating from solution. Current–voltage (I/V) characteristics and external quantum efficiency spectra will be discussed. The measured quantum efficiencies reach values between 0.3% and 1.1% with a photoresponse covering the entire spectrum of visible light. Our results show that together with insoluble small molecules (pigments) and conjugated polymers, dye molecules represent a new class of organic semiconducting materials that can be used to manufacture D/A solar cells.