Ternary blend polymer solar cells with enhanced power conversion efficiency

The use ternary organic components is currently being pursued to enhance the power conversion efficiency of bulk heterojunction solar cells by expanding the spectral range of light absorption. Here, we report a ternary blend polymer solar cell containing two donor polymers, poly-3-oxothieno[3,4-d]isothiazole-1, 1-dioxide/benzodithiophene (PID2), polythieno[3,4-b]-thiophene/benzodithiophene (PTB7) and [6,6]-phenyl C71 butyric acid methyl ester (PC71BM) as an acceptor. The resulting ternary solar cell delivered a power conversion efficiency of 8.22% with a short-circuit current density Jsc of 16.8 mA cm-2, an open-circuit voltage Voc of 0.72 V and a fill factor of 68.7%. In addition to extended light absorption, we show that J sc is improved through improved charge separation and transport and decreased charge recombination, resulting from the cascade energy levels and optimized device morphology of the ternary system. This work indicates that ternary blend solar cells have the potential to surpass high-performance binary polymer solar cells after further device engineering and optimization. © 2014 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.