Influence of the density of states on the open-circuit voltage in small-molecule solar cells

Open-circuit voltages are strongly dependent on the density-of-states in solar cells based on disordered semiconductors. In this work, organic solar cells based on tetraphenyldibenzoperiflanthene and fullerene C-70 with a bilayer structure were fabricated to investigate the variation in the density-of-states with the substrate temperature during deposition of the donor. The maximum open circuit voltage was reached at a substrate temperature of 60 degrees C. Organic thin-film transistors were also fabricated to study their electrical properties, such as the mobility and the density-of-states. Finally, an organic solar cell with p-i-n structure was fabricated at the optimized substrate temperature, and a power conversion efficiency of almost 4% was obtained. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved