Enhanced performance of polymer:fullerene bulk heterojunction solar cells upon graphene addition

Abstract

Graphene has potential for applications in solar cells. We show that the short circuit current density of P3HT (Poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl):PCBM((6,6)-Phenyl C61 butyric acid methyl ester) solar cells is enhanced by 10% upon the addition of graphene, with a 15% increase in the photon to electric conversion efficiency. We discuss the performance enhancement by studying the crystallization of P3HT, as well as the electrical transport properties. We show that graphene improves the balance between electron and hole mobilities with respect to a standard P3HT:PCBM solar cell.