Role of photoactive layer morphology in high fill factor all-polymer bulk heterojunction solar cells

Abstract

We report on the realization of all-polymer solar cells based on blends of poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) (P3HT) as a donor and poly{[N,N′-bis(2-octyldodecyl)-naphthalene-1,4,5,8-bis(dicarboximide)-2,6-diyl]-alt-5,5′-(2,2′-bithiophene)} (P(NDI2OD-T2)) as an acceptor. High fill factors are demonstrated for the first time in this class of devices suggesting high dissociation efficiency for the bounded electron–hole pairs and balanced electron and hole mobility along the thin films. The use of the high-mobility n-type P(NDI2OD-T2) polymer enables us to overcome one of the problems limiting the efficiency of all-polymer solar cells, resulting in fill factors comparable with those reported for fullerene-based devices.