Nanostructured Organic-Inorganic Solar Cells

M. McGehee, V. Gowrishankar, S. Scully, A. Mayer, M. Rowell, M. Topinka
Stanford University, US

Keywords:

Nanostructured, Organic, Inorganic, Solar Cells

Abstract:

Well ordered bulk heterojunction solar cells can be made by filling nanoporous films of titania with semiconducting polymers. The nanoporous films are made by self-assembling with block copolymer structure directing agents or with nanoimprint lithography. Since the pore diameters of our best films are still larger than the exciton diffusion length of most polymers, we have explored ways to enhance exciton transport. One is to use resonance energy transfer from a donor to an acceptor with a slightly smaller energy gap. We will show an example where the effective diffusion length and consequently the efficiency of the photovoltaic cell is enhanced by a factor of three. We will also discuss the effect that modifying the titania surface with benzoic acids has on electron transfer, the current and voltage of the solar cells.

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