Improved Efficiency of Organic Solar Cells Based on (P3HT:PCBM) and PCBM Materials

In this study, optical losses inside organic solar cells based on (P3HT:PCBM) and (PCBM) materials were modeled, in order to show the effects on their performance, using the finite element method. Modeling is done by involving an optical model to predict all optical responses such as reflection spectra and transmittance spectra in devices. In this model, the structure composed with glass substrates/SiO2/ITO/PEDOT:PSS/(P3HT:PCBM) and PCBM/Lif/Al) has been investigated numerically. The finite element method is used with the refractive index and extinction coefficient of each layer as input. Overage short-circuits current density of about 7 (mA/cm2) as well as 16% of the incident photon to current density (IPCE). Finally, we contract from the simulation results that the structure of P3HT:PCBM and PCBM has been affected by the optical interferences which led to a reduction in device performance. The results yield similar to those experimentally observed in the literature.