Efficient, bulk heterojunction organic photovoltaic cells based on boron subphthalocyanine chloride-C70

In this work, we describe the performance of organic photovoltaic cells (OPVs) based on the electron donor-acceptor pairing of boron subphthalocyanine chloride (SubPc) and C70. As an acceptor, C70 is a promising alternative to C60 due to its red-shifted absorption edge and large extinction coefficient, permitting increased photocurrent generation. In uniformly mixed OPVs based on SubPc:C70, peak power conversion efficiency is realized in devices containing 80 wt. % C70. Further enhancement in device performance can be realized through the use of a continuously graded donor-acceptor heterojunction. The optimized graded heterojunction OPV shows a power conversion efficiency of ηP = (5.4 ± 0.2)% under simulated AM1.5 G solar illumination at 100 mW/cm2. This efficiency is significantly larger than the value of ηP = (4.5 ± 0.1)% realized using C60 due to a substantial increase in the short-circuit current density.