Realisation and characterisation organic plastic solar cells based on different derivatives of fullerene-C60

Photovoltaic electricity is considered as an alternative to the actual ways of producing electricity for its different advantages. Its friendly impact on the environment and projected low cost makes it an attractive substitute. The plastic photovoltaic technology has been developing in recent years with a need to improve yield efficiency to end-up taking an important place in the world market. Different plastic photovoltaic solar cells have been fabricated recently using a variety of designs including small molecules, polymers or hybrid (organic /inorganic) materials. Record photovoltaic conversion efficiency was reported for interpenetrated based on the P3HT: PCBM system with 4~5% yield. The PCBM molecule presents some drawbacks such as low visible absorption, relatively high cost and multi-step synthesis. Due to the above, some new synthetic approaches around the fullerene C₆₀ unit were proposed. In this study, we investigate the photovoltaic properties of different fullerene C₆₀ derivatives blended into poly(3-hexylthiophene). An attempt to explain our photovoltaic characteristics in correlation with FTIR, fluorescence and UV/Vis absorption spectra was carried out. A study of the morphology was also achieved.