Efficiency enhancement for bulk-heterojunction hybrid solar cells based on acid treated CdSe quantum dots and low bandgap polymer PCPDTBT

We report on the efficiency enhancement for bulk-heterojunction hybrid solar cells based on hexanoic acid treated trioctylphosphine/oleic acid-capped CdSe quantum dots (QDs) and low bandgap polymer poly[2,6-(4,4-bis-(2-ethylhexyl)-4H-cyclopenta[2,1-b;3,4-b′]-dithiophene)-alt-4,7-(2,1,3-benzothiadiazole)] (PCPDTBT) compared to devices based on poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT). Photovoltaic devices with optimized polymer:QD weight ratio, photoactive film thickness, thermal annealing treatment, and cathode materials exhibited a power conversion efficiency of 2.7% after spectral mismatch correction, which is the highest reported value for spherical CdSe QD based photovoltaic devices. The efficiency enhancement is attributed to the surface treatment of the QDs together with the use of the low bandgap polymer PCPDTBT leading to an increased short-circuit current density due to additional light absorption between 650 and 850 nm. Our results suggest that the hexanoic acid treatment is generally applicable to various ligand-capped CdSe and confirm that low bandgap polymers with adequate HOMO and LUMO levels are promising to be incorporated into hybrid solar cells for further device performance improvement.