Detailed study of N,N′-(diisopropylphenyl)-terrylene-3,4:11,12-bis(dicarboximide) as electron acceptor for solar cells application

We report on terrylene-3,4:11,12-bis(dicarboximide) (TDI) as electron acceptor for bulk-heterojunction solar cells using poly(3-hexyl thiophene) (P3HT) as complementary donor component. Enhanced absorption was observed in the blend compared to pure P3HT. As shown by the very efficient photoluminescence (PL) quenching, the generated excitons are collected at the interface between the donor and acceptor, where they separate into charges which we detect by photoinduced absorption and electron-spin resonance (ESR). Time-of-flight (TOF) photoconductivity measurements reveal a good electron mobility of 10−3 cm2V−1 s−1 in the blend. Nevertheless, the photocurrent in solar cells was found to be surprisingly low. Supported by the external quantum efficiency (EQE) spectrum as well as morphological studies by way of X-ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy, we explain our observation by the formation of a TDI hole blocking layer at the anode interface, which prevents the efficiently generated charges to be extracted.