Polarons solar cells

Fig. 4 Schematic illustration of the processes leading to photocurrent generation in organic solar cells, (a) Photon absorption in Step 1 leads to excitons that may diffuse in Step 2 to the donor/ acceptor (D/A) interface. Quenching of the exciton at the D/A interface in Step 3 leads to formation of the charge-transfer (CT) state. Note that processes analogous to Steps 1-3 may also occur in the acceptor material, (b) Charge separation in Step 4 leads to free polarons that are transported through the organic layers and collected at the electrodes in Steps 5 and 6, respectively, (c) The equilibria involved in Steps 1-4- strongly influence device efficiency...

As a result of these factors, the universal paradigm for inorganic solar cells, the p-n junction, cannot be adapted for organic semiconductors. The contrast with inorganic semiconductors is shown schematically in Fig. 7.2. The alternative of a metal-semi-conductor-metal device structure, where photocurrent is directed by the difference in work function between the two metals, also cannot be used because the electric field created by available asymmetric contact materials is insufficient to separate the singlet exciton into electron and hole polarons. Therefore, alternative device architectures are needed. 

A further aspect, not yet treated in detail for organic solar cells, is the role of intermediate charge-transfer states, such as bound polaron pairs, in mediating charge separation and recombination rates (Morteani et al, 2004). 

After splitting of the exciton at the heterojunction and further separation of the charge-transfer state, the charges (or polarons) need to be transported within the semiconductor materials network to the respective electrodes. Despite the recognition that it is mainly the separation of the charge-transfer states that limits current polymer polymer solar-cell devices, charge transport also has to be considered, because it is another potential loss mechanism. We will briefly cover this topic the interested reader is referred to a recent review by Blom et al. [7]. 

The field of bulk heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells was created as a result of the demonstration of ultrafast charge transfer. Ultrafast observations of pho-toinduced infrared active vibrational modes (IRAV) associated with polaron formation unambiguously established the ultrafast photogeneration of eharge carriers in BHJ materials. ... 

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