Nanostructured polymer solar cells

Polymer solar cells generally contain a low bandgap p-type conjugated polymer as photosensitizer and an inorganic or organic n-type semiconductor as electron acceptor. We investigated two nanostructured composites of the complementary semiconductors: nanometer-scale blends and interpenetrating nanorod arrays. In the blend approach, new low bandgap polymers were synthesized to match with electron-acceptors such as C₆₀-PCBM and C₇₀-PCBM for increased absorption efficiency. The nanorod arrays were fabricated by solution-based electrochemical growth. Photovoltaic performance of the composites is also discussed.