Synthesis, Characterizations, and Properties of a P3HTHeminCovalent System for Solar Energy Conversions

Abstract

Organic solar cells based on conjugated materials have widely been studied as potential renewable and low-cost alternatives for future solar energy conversions. The power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the best organic solar cells-bulk heterojunction (BHJ) cell reached to about 10%. However, there is room for improvements. In this study, we intend to address the critical “photon loss” problem and the germinate charge carriers recombination problem via an energy level matched dye molecular units sensitized polymer approach, i.e., a “three-component” approach. Specifically, a covalent P3HT-Hemin system was synthesized and characterized successfully via esterification between HO/HOP3HT and Hemin. The optoelectronic performance of P3HT-Hemin/PCBM cell is improved over the corresponding simple blend system, and this can be attributed to both improved photon capture and reduced charge recombination.