An Alternative Approach to Simulate the Power Conversion Efficiency of Bulk Heterojunction Organic Solar Cells

Abstract

An alternative approach to simulate the power conversion efficiency ( η PCE ) of bulk heterojunction organic solar cells (BHJ OSCs), as a product of efficiencies of absorption ( η abs ), dissociation ( η dis ), and extraction ( η ext ), is presented. Although η abs and η dis do not directly contribute to the simulation of η PCE , the approach enables us in understanding their roles in optimizing the power conversion efficiency of BHJ OSCs. This method is applied to simulate η PCE as a function of the thickness of active layer for three different BHJ OSC structures, one with a fullerene acceptor and two with two different nonfullerene acceptors. The results are found to be in good agreement with those from the previous simulation and experimental works and are expected to be useful in optimizing the thickness of the active layer.