Deep defects and the attempt to escape frequency in organic photovoltaic materials

Abstract

Trap states are well-known to plague organic photovoltaic devices and their characterization is essential for continued progress. This letter reports on both the deep trap profiles and kinetics of trap emission, studied through temperature dependent capacitance measurements. Three polymer based systems relevant to photovoltaics, namely, P3HT:PC60BM, PTB7:PC70BM, and PCDTBT:PC70BM were investigated. Each polymer showed a markedly different deep trap profile, varying in shape from a nearly constant density of states to a sharp Gaussian. In contrast, the frequency of trap emission was similar for each—ca. 108−109 Hz—indicating a universal value and similar trapping mechanisms despite the differences in energetic distribution. The latter result is important in the light of range of conflicting values reported, or higher value (1012 Hz) typically borrowed from crystalline inorganic materials.