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Studies on stability of bi-functional P3HT:PCBM:rubrene optoelectronic devices

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Abstract

Investigations are carried out for stability in photovoltaic response of bifunctional electroluminescent and photovoltaic devices, based on ternary blend of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT), phenyl [6,6′]C61 butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM), and 5,6,11,12-tetraphenylnaphthacene (rubrene). P3HT and PCBM are important and the most frequent materials used for photovoltaic applications, therefore, for relative comparison, photovoltaic cells were also prepared using a binary mixture of P3HT and PCBM. Devices based on the ternary blend exhibited better stability in all photovoltaic parameters and the lifetime was almost doubled, but their photovoltaic efficiency was lower than that of those based on the binary blend. Longer lifetime of ternary blend devices is because of a relatively better thermal, electrochemical, and morphological stabilities of the ternary blend system. However, the lower efficiencies are because of the reduced photo-current and low fill factor (FF) due to an increased recombination and introduction of defects/trapping sites by rubrene molecules.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Professor R.C. Budhani, Director NPL, New Delhi, for his support to the work. The authors are also thankful to Professor Viresh Dutta from IIT Delhi and Dr. Suresh Chand from NPL, New Delhi, for their help and suggestions. One of us (A.G.) is grateful to the Department of Science & Technology, India, for providing her the Inspire Fellowship. Financial support from CSIR-India is also acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CSIR-National Physical Laboratory, Dr K S Krishnan road, New Delhi, 110012, India

    Ankita Gaur & Pankaj Kumar

  2. Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi, 110016, India

    Ankita Gaur

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  1. Ankita Gaur
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  2. Pankaj Kumar
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Correspondence to Pankaj Kumar.

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Gaur, A., Kumar, P. Studies on stability of bi-functional P3HT:PCBM:rubrene optoelectronic devices. Appl. Phys. A 111, 877–886 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-012-7303-x

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