Silver Nanowire Embedded In P3HT:PCBM for High Efficiency Hybrid Photovoltaic Device Applications

A systematic approach has been followed in the development of a high efficiency hybrid photovoltaic device which has the blend of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT), [6,6]-phenyl C₆₁-butyricacid methyl ester (PCBM) and silver nanowires (Ag NWs) in the active layer using the bulk heterojunction concept. The active layer is modified by utilizing a binary solvent system for blending. In addition, the solvent evaporation process in after spin-coating is changed and an Ag NWs is incorporated to improve the performance of the hybrid photovoltaic device. Hybrid photovoltaic devices were fabricated by using 1:0.7 weight ratio of P3HT to PCBM in a 1:1 weight ratio of o-dichlorobenzene and chloroform solvent mixture, in the presence and absence of 20 wt% of Ag NWs. We also compared the photovoltaic performance of Ag NWs embedded in P3HT:PCBM to that of silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs). Atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmittance electron microscope (TEM), UV-visible absorption, incident photon-to-current conversion efficiency (IPCE), and time-of-flight (TOF) measurements are performed in order to characterize the hybrid photovoltaic devices. The optimal hybrid photovoltaic device composed of Ag NWs generated in this effort exhibits a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 3.91 %, measured by using an AM 1.5G solar simulator (Oriel 300 W) at 100 mW/cm² light illumination intensity.