Physics Commons^™

Time-Dependent Efficiency Measurements Of Polymer Solar Cells With Dye Additives: Unexpected Initial Increase Of Efficiency, Kyle J. Bandaccari, Grace E. Chesmore, Mitchel Bugaj, Parisa Tajalli-Tehrani Valverde, Richard P. Barber Jr., Brian J. Mcnelis

Physics

We report the effects of the addition of two azo-dye additives on the time-dependent efficiency of polymer solar cells. Although the maximum efficiencies of devices containing different amounts of dye do not vary greatly over the selected concentration range, the time dependence results reveal a surprising initial increase in efficiency in some samples. We observe this effect to be correlated with a leakage current, although a specific mechanism is not yet identified. We also present the measured lifetimes of these solar cells, and find that variations in dye concentrations produce a small effect at most. Characterization of the bulk heterojunction …