Polymeric nanocomposite infrared photovoltaics enhanced by pentacene

Abstract

An infrared active thin film polymeric photovoltaic device is fabricated from regioregular poly(3-hexylthiophene), PbSe quantum dots, and the organic semiconductor pentacene. The PbSe quantum dots are infrared photosensitizers. Pentacene is incorporated into the formulation in a soluble precursor form. The current-voltage measurements of the device show that the photovoltaic performance is significantly increased by the introduction of pentacene, with both short-circuit current density and open-circuit voltage increased by a factor of 2. The improved performance of the device is attributed to the high mobility of charge carriers in pentacene probably due to conducting domains provided by it.