Poly :PCBM

The inclusion of 5 wt% PCBM [l-(3-methoxycarbonyl)propyl-l-phe-nyl-[6,6]C6i] in the spin-coating solutions resulted in efficient polymer emission quenching for all the polythiophenes studied. The transient absorption spectra of the amorphous poly(541)/PCBM blend film. At 10 ps exhibited an absorption peak around 700 nm, similar to that observed for the poly(541) pristine film. The shape of the transient spectrum varied with time, with the absorption peak shifting from 700 nm at 10 is to 900 nm for time delays >100 (is, demonstrating the formation of two distinct transient species in the blend film. The monoexponential lifetime was t = 8 (is under Ar atmosphere and significantly shortened under 02 atmosphere. Monoexponential phase is therefore assigned to the decay of poly(541) triplet excitons. 

For the polymers poly(541) and poly(539), the observation of polymer triplet formation in the blend films indicates that their triplet energies are below that of PCBM (Er k 1.5 eV), while for poly(540), the observation of PCBM triplet rather than polymer triplet formation in the blend indicates that the poly(540) triplet state lies higher in energy than the PCBM triplet state. 

Nowadays the best performing organic photovoltaic cell is represented by a bulk heterojunction (BHJ) solar cell based on the polymer poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and the fullerene derivative [6, 6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM), with reproducible efficiencies approaching 5% [262,263], However, a serious drawback for the preparation of efficient organic photovoltaic cells is represented by the low optical absorbance in the red/near-infrared region of the lightharvesting component(s), as well as their low extinction coefflcient(s). 

In order to learn about the true quantum efficiency of photogeneration one therefore has to study the photoinduced charge generation mechanism at faster time scales. Pump probe spectroscopy utilising a few optical-cycle laser pulses (5-6 fs) in the visible spectral range with broadband frequency conversion techniques [89] now makes it possible to study extremely fast optically-initiated events with unprecedented time resolution. Such a setup was used to time-resolve the kinetics of the charge transfer process from a polymer chain to a fullerene moiety in thin films of poly[2-methoxy, 5-(3, 7 -dimethyl-octyloxy)]-p-phenylene vinylene (MDMO-PPV) and [6,6]-phenyl C6i butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM). Solutions prepared from 1 wt% solutions of toluene on thin quartz substrates were studied. 

Mihailetchi [134] investigated the open circuit voltage of the bulk heterojunction organic solar cells based on methanol-fullerene [6,6]-phenyl C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) as electron acceptor and poly[2-methoxy-5(3 ,7 -dimethyloctyloxy)-p-phenylene vinylene] (OC1C10-PPV) as an electron donor. It is known that a single layer device follows the MIM model [166] and the open circuit voltage V0c is equal to the difference in the work functions of the metal electrodes [134], If charges accumulate in the... 

Figure 7.1 Chemical stractures of some common organic photovoltaic materials poly(2-methoxy-5-(3,7-dimethyloctyloxy)-l,4 phenylenevinylene) (MDMO-PPV), poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and [6,6]-phenyl Cei-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM).

To improve the limit-of-detection, we replaced the 16 mm vacuum deposited CuPc/Cgg bilayer devices with 1 mm solution-processed polymer devices based on 1 1 blends by weight of poly(3-hexylthiophene) [P3HT] and [6, 6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid-methylester [PCBM] - a soluble derivative of Ceo- The P3HT PCBM devices fabricated in our laboratory typically have very low short-circuit dark current densities of <10 mA cm , and are consequently a good choice for high sensitivity detection [21]. The... 

Significant amount of research has been dedicated to two material systems MDMO-PPV PCBM (MDMO-PPV poly(2-methoxy-5-(3, 7 -dimethyl-octyloxy)-l,4-phenylenevinylene)) and RR-P3HT PCBM, which represent the state-of-the-art polymer solar cell technology. Because there are excellent review papers on the MDMO-PPV PCBM system in the literature, in this section we will only focus on the recent improvements in RR-P3HT PCBM system, especially the approaches to optimize the active blend layer for enhancing device efficiency. 

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