The Effect of Chemical Additives on Photovoltaic Performance of P3HT: PCBM Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells

Shiferaw, Eyob Daniel (2012) The Effect of Chemical Additives on Photovoltaic Performance of P3HT: PCBM Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells. Masters thesis, Addis Ababa University.

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Abstract

Organic bulk heterojunction solar cell devices based on blend of poly(3- hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and [6, 6] phenyl C61 butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) with different concentration of propylthiouracil (PTU) additive have been fabricated and characterized in an open air. The current density-voltage characteristics were measured in the dark and under white light illumination at illumination intensity of 80 mW/cm2. The incident monochromatic photon to current conversion efficiency (IPCE), and consistency of optical absorption and IPCE of the device without additive and with propylthiouracil have been compared. Optimizations were made by varying the concentration of propylthiouracil from 0.75% (w/w) to 1.5% (w/w). It was found that a system with 1% (w/w) of propylthiouracil showed the best photovoltaic performance with a short circuit current density, JSC of 5.69 mA/cm2, open circuit voltage, VOC of 0.648 V, fill factor, FF of 40%, and power conversion efficiency (PCE), of 1.8%, as compared to the system without propylthiouracil and with other concentrations of propylthiouracil. The best device showed IPCE of 62% at 480 nm. It was also observed clearly that IPCE spectra of each solar cell match the corresponding optical absorption. Our results in general show that addition of 1% (w/w) Propylthiouracil additive to P3HT:PCBM bulk heterojunction solar cell improves efficiency of the device from 1% to 1.8%.

Item Type:	Thesis (Masters)
Subjects:	Q Science > Q Science (General) Q Science > QC Physics Q Science > QD Chemistry
Divisions:	Africana
Depositing User:	Selom Ghislain
Date Deposited:	04 Oct 2018 12:17
Last Modified:	04 Oct 2018 12:17
URI:	http://thesisbank.jhia.ac.ke/id/eprint/6727

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