Improving the efficiency of an organic solar cell by a polymer additive to optimize the charge carriers mobility

We investigate the effect of a high hole mobility triarylamine-based conjugated polymer on a bulk hetero-junction organic solar cell. We employed a polymer blend consisting of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT), [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM), and poly(N-(4 -(9,9-dioctyl-fluoren-2-yl)phenyl)-N,N′,N′-triphenyl-l,4-phenylenediamine) (PFLAM) as active materials. The hole mobility of PFLAM is ∼10−3 cm2 V−1 s−1, which is similar to the electron mobility of PCBM. Addition of PFLAM improves the hole mobility of the photovoltaic cell augmenting the charge balance of the system. The overall efficiency gain for such a device is 34%.