MAPLE prepared heterostructures with arylene based polymer active layer for photovoltaic applications

Abstract This paper presents some studies about the preparation by matrix-assisted pulsed laser evaporation (MAPLE) technique of heterostructures with single layer of arylene based polymer, poly[N-(2-ethylhexyl)2.7-carbazolyl vinylene]/AMC16 and poly[N-(2-ethylhexyl)2.7-carbazolyl 1.4-phenylene ethynylene]/AMC22, and with layers of these polymers mixed with Buckminsterfullerene/C60 in the weight ratio of 1:2 (AMC16:C60) and 1:3 (AMC22:C60). The deposited layers have been characterized by spectroscopic (UV-Vis-NIR, PL, FTIR) and microscopic (SEM, AFM) methods. The effect of the polymer particularities on the optical and electrical properties of the structures based on polymer and polymer:C60 mixed layer has been analyzed. The study of the electrical properties has revealed typical solar cell behavior for the heterostructure prepared by MAPLE on glass/ITO/PEDOT-PSS with AMC16, AMC22 and AMC22:C60 layer, confirming that this method is adequate for the preparation of polymeric and mixed active layers for solar cells applications. The highest photovoltaic effect was shown by the solar cell structure realized with single layer of AMC16 polymer: glass/ITO/PEDOT-PSS/AMC16/Al.