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Using Bulk Heterojunction Field Effect Measurements to Understand Charge Transport in Solar Cell Materials

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

Christopher Lombardo
Affiliation:
Ananth Dodabalapur
Affiliation:
[email protected], The University of Texas at Austin, Microelectronics Research Center, Austin, Texas, United States
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Abstract

Ambipolar organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) have been used to study the transport of charge carriers in bulk heterojunction (BHJ) organic photovoltaic devices. Active layers of phase separated blend of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and [6,6]-phenyl C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM), have been chosen due to their use in performance BHJ organic photovoltaic devices as well as ease of device fabrication. A method for determining recombination rate after exciton dissociation and measurement of excess carrier lifetime has been reported by studying drain current behavior which yields carrier mobility, conductivity, and carrier concentration both in dark and AM1.5g illumination. Channel-length dependent measurements of the photocurrent show that significant recombination of separated charge carriers begins to occur at lengths greater than 10 μm. A recombination rate of cm-3 s-1 and a carrier lifetime of ≥ 8.8 ms has been calculated.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2010

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References

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