Improving photovoltaic properties of P3HT:IC60BA through the incorporation of small molecules

We investigated the role of a functional solid additive, 2,3-dihydroxypyridine (DHP), in influencing the optoelectronic, morphological, structural and photovoltaic properties of bulk-heterojunction-based polymer solar cells (BHJ PSCs) fabricated using poly(3-hexylthiophene): indene-C 60 bisadduct (P3HT:IC₆₀BA) photoactive medium. A dramatic increase in the power conversion efficiency (~20%) was witnessed for the BHJ PSCs treated with DHP compared to the pristine devices. A plausible explanation describing the alignment of pyridine moieties of DHP with the indene side groups of IC₆₀BA is presented with a view to improving the performance of the BHJ PSCs via improved crystalline order and hydrophobicity changes.