Different solvents effect on the performance of the solar cells based on poly(3-hexylthiophene):methanofullerenes

This paper reports the effect on the performance of the solar cells based on poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT):[6,6]-phenyl C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) with different casting solvents. These blend films are characterized by UV–vis absorption spectra, photoluminescence spectra, charge-transport dark J–V curve, X-ray diffraction pattern curve, and AFM images. The results indicate that high boiling point solvent leads to an enhanced self-organization of P3HT in the active layer, which causes an increased charge transport. Increased incident light absorption and higher carrier mobility in the active layer contribute to the enhancement in the device performance, the power conversion efficiency of 3.69% and fill factor up to 65.3% are achieved with 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene as casting solvent without further heat treatment under Air Mass 1.5, 100 mW/cm2.