Carrier Transport Enhancement in Bulk-Heterojunction Organic Photovoltaics with Boron or Nitrogen-Doped Carbon Nanotubes

Abstract:

We present the remarkable performance improvement of organic solar cells upon incorporating N- or B-doped carbon nanotubes (CNTs) into the organic semiconductor active layer. A small amount (0.2-5.0 wt%) of doped multi-walled CNTs are added to the bulk-heterojuction of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and 1-(3-methoxycarbonyl) propyl-1-phenyl[6,6]C61 (PCBM). Unlike undoped metallic multi-walled CNTs, which cause undesired electron-hole recombination, N- or B-doped CNTs uniformly dispersed in the active layer selectively enhance electron or hole transport, respectively, and eventually help carrier collection. Specifically, the incorporation of 1.0 wt% B-doped CNTs results in a balanced electron and hole transport and accomplishes a power conversion efficiency improvement from 3.0 % (conventional control cells without CNTs) to 4.1 %.

• Periodical: Applied Mechanics and Materials (Volumes 229-231)
• Pages: 267-270
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AMM.229-231.267
• Online since: November 2012
• Authors: Hyung Il Park, Ju Min Lee, Ji Sun Park, Kyung Eun Lee, Sang Ouk Kim
• Keywords: Carbon Nanotube (CN), Carrier Transport, Doping, Organic Photovoltaic

References

[1] G. Yu, J. Gao, J.C. Hummelen, F. Wudl and A.J. Heeger, Science, 270, 1789 (1995).

[2] G. Li, V. Shrotriva, J. Huang, Y. Yao, T. Moriarty, K. Emery and Y. Yang, Nat. Mater., 4, 864 (2005).

[3] W.U. Huynh, J.J. Dittmer and A.P. Alivisatos, Science, 295, 2425 (2002).

[4] S. Chaudhary, H. Lu, A.M. Muller, C.J. Bardeen and M. Ozkan, Nano Lett., 7, 1973 (2007).

[5] R.H. Baughman, A.A. Zakhidov and W.A. de Heer, Science, 297, 787 (2002).

[6] X.M. Liu, H.E. Romero, H.R. Gutierrez and P.C. Eklund, Nano Lett., 8, 2613 (2008).

[7] V.D. Mihailetchi, H. Xie, B. de Boer, L.J.A. Koster and P.W.M. Blom, Adv. Funct. Mater., 16, 699 (2006).