- Email: [email protected]
TCNQ Bulk P-N Junction Blend for Plastic Solar Cell
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
ScienceDirect Materials Today: Proceedings 3 (2016) 3608–3613
www.materialstoday.com/proceedings
ICMRA 2016
Spectrally Tuned P3HT/TCNQ Bulk P-N Junction Blend for Plastic Solar Cell Ishwar Naika, Rajashekhar Bhajantrib* b*
a Govt. Arts & Science College, Karwar, Karnataka Dept. of Physics, Karnatak University, Dharwad, Karnataka
Abstract: Dimethylanilino-substituted cyanoalkyne, 7,7,8,8-Tetracyanoquinodumethane (TCNQ) having super acceptor property, along with efficient charge transport properties and the strong solar absorption of Poly (3-hexyl thiophene2,5- diyl) (P3HT), have proved them to be the most popular donor-acceptor pair for preparing the photoactive material. The present work is focused to optimize the photoactive blend of (P3HT)) and TCNQ for the maximum absorption of the solar energy. The donor P3HT and the acceptor TCNQ are blended in the weight ratios 3:1, 1:1 &1:3 in Chloro-benzene as the solvent. The glass coated samples are prepared by solution cast method and the samples are characterized by JASCO UV Vis NIR V 670 spectrometer. P3HT has strong absorption in the visible region while TCNQ has the absorption peak at 400nm with broad band of absorption extending into IR region. Spectrum for the blend is the superposed spectra of the component moieties. The 3:1 blend of P3HT with TCNQ has broad spectral sensitivity for absorption and can be used as the best photoactive blend for construction of a plastic solar cell. The energy difference (band gap) between Highest Occupied Molecular Orbit (HOMO) and the Lowest Un-occupied Molecular Orbit (LUMO) of the samples are determined through Tauc’s plot. Calculations from Tauc’s plot indicated that pure P3HT sample has onset wavelength of 637 nm with a band gap of 1.94eV. Onset wavelengths for 3:1, 1:1 & 1:3 blends are 662nm, 649nm & 657nm respectively. Their respective energy gaps are 1.87eV, 1.91eV & 1.89eV. Among the samples 3:1 P:N blend has the least energy gap. Either 3:1 or 1:1 P:N blends are equally probable for construction of solar cell. The absorption by the blends can be further enhanced by either dye sensitization or by exploiting Plasmon resonance. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Selection and Peer-review under responsibility of International conference on materials research and applications-2016. Keywords: TCNQ; P3HT; HOMO; LUMO; LSPR.
* Corresponding author. E-mail address: [email protected]. 2214-7853 © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Selection and Peer-review under responsibility of International conference on materials research and applications-2016.
Ishwar Naik / Materials Today: Proceedings 3 (2016) 3608–3613
3609
1. Introduction Silicon based solar cells and thin film solar cells are suffering from material cost, installation cost, and fabrication complications [1].The search for low cost, efficient, flexible and easily processable solar cells, has become a global challenge at present in the field of electronics. Plastic or polymeric solar cells are promising in this direction but needs intensive effort regarding the choice of the proper donor-acceptor pair and with respect to optimization of their weight ratios in the blend. The Physics involved in the energy conversion efficiency of polymer cells is a multistep process like photon absorption, exciton formation and migration, exciton dissociation, charge transport and Charge collection [2]. The exciton diffusion mechanism and the charge collection rate have been significantly improved with the introduction of bulk hetero junction photoactive blends. Among the conducting polymers, P3HT has the absorption spectrum matching well with the strongest solar spectrum and also has good transport properties. The work is focused to prepare an optimized active blend of the widely used donor polymer Poly [3-hexylthiophene-2, 5dily)(P3HT) and N- type acceptor 7,7,8,8-Tetracyanoquinodumethane (TCNQ). TCNQ is a dimethylanilino substituted cyanoalkyne having super electron accepting property with efficient intramolecular charge transfer interactions [3]. The strong absorption spectrum of the donor P3HT in the visible region and super acceptor property of TCNQ, coupled with the wide spectral absorption are the key factors in selecting them as the donor-acceptor pair. The resulting active blend must show a broad spectral absorption extending from UV region to the region beyond the visible for a proper composition between them. Blends of different donor-acceptor weight ratios are prepared in high boiling point solvent chloro-benzene and their glass coated samples (solution cast method) are characterized by UVVisible spectra. The blend showing broad spectral sensitivity for absorption is selected as the best photo active blend.
2. Experimental The p-type donor polymer P3HT ( electronic grade, average mol wt 15000-45000, HOMO 5eV,LUMO3eV) & ntype acceptor 7,7,8,8-Tetracyanoquinodimethane(TCNQ) with LUMO 4.6eV having N-type mobility of about 10-5 cm2/V-s are purchased from Sigma Aldrich Corporation. The solvent chloro-benzene is procured from Rankem Chemicals. These chemicals are used as received without further purification. The chemical structures of these donor and acceptor molecules are as shown below,
Structure of P3HT
Structure of TCNQ
5 mg of P3HT and 5 mg of TCNQ are dissolved in 50 ml of chlorobenzene in separate beakers and magnetically stirred for 7 hrs at room temperature until clear solutions are formed. The resulting solutions are of concentrations 0.1 mg/ml each. The solutions are blended with P3HT: TCNQ weight ratios of 3:1, 1:1 & 1:3 keeping the total weight of the film fixed to 2mg. The mixtures are magnetically stirred for 10 hours at room temperature and then
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Ishwar Naik/ Materials Today: Proceedings 3 (2016) 3608–3613
transferred to 3cm diameter petri-plates, dried at room temperature and then at about 70 0 C in hot air oven. The film composition is as shown in the Table 1. Table 1. Composition of prepared samples. P3HT/CB (P type)
TCNQ/CB (N type)
(in mg)
(in mg)
2.0 1.5 1.0 0.5 0.0
P:N
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0
Pure P 3:1 1:1 1:3 Pure N
3. Result and discussion
Samples are characterized using JASCO UV Vis NIR V-670 spectrometer
3.0
0.6
Absorbance
Absorbance
2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0
0.4
0.2
0.5 0.0
0.0 350
400
450
500
550
600
650
Wavelength (nm)
Fig1. Spectrum of pure P3HT film
700
750
350
400
450
500
550
600
650
700
Wavelength (nm)
Fig 2. Spectrum of 3:1, P3HT: TCNQ
750
Ishwar Naik / Materials Today: Proceedings 3 (2016) 3608–3613
3611
0.6 0.5
Absorbance
Absorbance
0.6
0.4
0.4 0.3 0.2
0.2 0.1 0.0
0.0 350
400
450
500
550
600
650
700
350
750
400
450
Fig3. Spectrum of 1:1, P3HT: TCNQ
550
600
650
700
750
Fig 4. Spectrum of 1:3 P3HT: TCNQ
3.0
0.5
Pure P 3:1 P:N 1:1 P:N 1:3 P:N Pure N
2.5
Absorbance
0.4
Absorbance
500
Wavelength (nm)
Wavelength (nm)
0.3
0.2
0.1
2.0 1.5 1.0 0.5
0.0 350
400
450
500
550
600
650
700
750
0.0 350
Wavelength (nm)
400
450
500
550
600
650
700
Wavelength (nm) Fig5. Pure TCNQ
Fig6.Overlay Spectra of all films
Tauc’s Plot for determining the Band Gap of the blends -5
4.0x10
-6
3.0x10
-5
3.5x10
-6
2.5x10
-5
3.0x10
-6
2.0x10
2
-5
2.0x10
2
a /
2
a /
2
-5
2.5x10
-5
1.5x10
-6
1.0x10
-5
1.0x10
-6
-7
5.0x10
0.0 0.0010
-6
1.5x10
5.0x10
0.0012
0.0014
0.0016
1/
0.0018
0.0020
0.001577
Fig7. Tauc’s plot for pure P3HT film
0.0022
0.0 0.0010
0.0012
0.0014
0.001518
0.0016
0.0018
0.0020
1/
Fig 8. Tauc’s plot for 3:1, P3HT: TCNQ
0.0022
750
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Ishwar Naik/ Materials Today: Proceedings 3 (2016) 3608–3613
-6
3.0x10
-6
3.0x10
-6
2.5x10
-6
2.5x10
-6 -6
2
2.0x10
-6
2
a /
1.5x10
2
a /
2
2.0x10
-6
1.5x10
-6
1.0x10
-6
1.0x10
-7
5.0x10
0.0 0.0010
-7
5.0x10
0.0
0.0012
0.0014
0.0016
0.001544
0.0018
0.0020
0.0022
0.0012
1/
Fig9. Tauc’s plot for 1:1, P3HT: TCNQ
0.0015
1/
0.0018
0.0021
0.001522
Fig 10. Tauc’s plot for 1:3, P3HT: TCNQ
-7
1.0x10
-8
9.0x10
-8
8.0x10
-8
2
a /
2
7.0x10
-8
6.0x10
-8
5.0x10
-8
4.0x10
-8
3.0x10
-8
2.0x10
-8
1.0x10
0.0012
0.0015
1/
0.0018
0.0021
0.001305
Fig11. Tauc’s plot for pure P3HT film
Major problem in polymer solar cells is the insufficient absorption in the solar irradiance spectrum. Even the widely studied Phenylene vinylene polymers have the band edges at 550nm [2]. Pure P3HT film has absorption extending from 300 nm to 637 nm. The Spectrum has two peaks at 520nm and 560 nm with one shoulder around 620nm, having onset of absorption (the absorption edge) about 637nm matching well with the strongest solar spectrum as shown in Fig1.The first two peaks arise from π – π* transition and the shoulder is due to inter-chain interactions [2]. TCNQ can form various thin films of complexes with perfect photoelectric properties and also it is characterized by unusual electron transfer properties. Fig5 is the absorption spectrum for pure TCNQ with absorption peak at 400nm which is attributed to π – π* transitions. It has the absorption band extending from UV to the IR region [4]. Spectra for blends are the superposition of the component spectra as indicated in Fig2, Fig3 and Fig4 for 3:1, 1:1 and 1:3 P-N junctions respectively. Fig6 represents the overlay spectra of the samples. Effect of TCNQ in the blend is to reduce the absorption of P3HT in the visible region followed by increase of absorption in IR region. The modification in the spectrum is because of the interaction between TCNQ molecules and P3HT polymer chain. TCNQ molecules hinder the interaction among the P3HT chains. Relatively 3:1 blend has wide spectral sensitivity and can be considered as the best photoactive blend among the samples prepared. Tauc’s plot for pure P and pure N samples are as shown in Fig7 to Fig11. Tauc’s plots for the blends are represented in Fig8, Fig9 and Fig10 for 3:1, 1:1 and 1:3 P-N junctions respectively. The calculations from Tauc’s plot shows that the onset wavelength of the optimized blend is 662nm with band gap 1.87 eV. Even 1:1 blend can also be considered for solar cell construction. Practically 1:1 blend contains more P-N junctions than 3:1 blend. The absorption by the
Ishwar Naik / Materials Today: Proceedings 3 (2016) 3608–3613
3613
blend can be further enhanced by doping with metal nano particles, exploiting Localised Surface Plasmon Resonance (LSPR) or by dye sensitization. Nanodoping /dye sensitization of 3:1 & 1:1 P3HT: TCNQ blends and construction of solar cell using the same is our work in progress. 4. Conclusion We have investigated UV- VISIBLE absorption spectra for 3:1, 1:1, 1:3 blends of P3HT: TCNQ mixed P-N junction photoactive material along with their pristine glass coated films. Spectral analysis indicated weight percentage of TCNQ in the blend has tuned the spectral response. 3:1 blend of P3HT: TCNQ shows a broad spectral absorption and selected as the best photo active blend. The optimized blend has the least band gap of 1.87eV. By doping the blend with metal oxide nano particles or by dye sensitization, the absorption can be further enhanced. Consideration of 1:1 blend is also equally probable for construction of the solar cell. Exploiting Plasmon Resonance through nano doping on the selected blend is our further study. Even it is planned to carry out dye sensitization of the active blend. Finally we conclude that 3:1and 1:1 blends of P3HT: TCNQ can be used as the photoactive material for constructing a plastic solar cell and the construction of the solar cell is under progress.. Acknowledgements Thanks to UGC for sanctioning the Minor research project entitled “construction and characterization of an organic solar cell (OPV) devised from a self made low cost spin coating machine”. Order No.: 1419-MRP/14-15/KAKA088/UGC-SWRO, dated 04-02-2015.
References [1] R. Tipnis, D. Laird, M. Mathai, Material Matters 3.4(2008), 92. [2] G. LI, V. Shrotriya, Y. Yao, J. Haung, Y. Yang. J. Mat. Chem., 17(2007), 3126-3140. [3] M Kivala, C Boundan, Chemistry, 15:16(2009), 4113-23. [4] X. Jiang, Z. Li, C. Sun, X. Zhang, Int. J. Physical Sciences, 7:6(2012), 901-905.
ScienceDirect Materials Today: Proceedings 3 (2016) 3608–3613
www.materialstoday.com/proceedings
ICMRA 2016
Spectrally Tuned P3HT/TCNQ Bulk P-N Junction Blend for Plastic Solar Cell Ishwar Naika, Rajashekhar Bhajantrib* b*
a Govt. Arts & Science College, Karwar, Karnataka Dept. of Physics, Karnatak University, Dharwad, Karnataka
Abstract: Dimethylanilino-substituted cyanoalkyne, 7,7,8,8-Tetracyanoquinodumethane (TCNQ) having super acceptor property, along with efficient charge transport properties and the strong solar absorption of Poly (3-hexyl thiophene2,5- diyl) (P3HT), have proved them to be the most popular donor-acceptor pair for preparing the photoactive material. The present work is focused to optimize the photoactive blend of (P3HT)) and TCNQ for the maximum absorption of the solar energy. The donor P3HT and the acceptor TCNQ are blended in the weight ratios 3:1, 1:1 &1:3 in Chloro-benzene as the solvent. The glass coated samples are prepared by solution cast method and the samples are characterized by JASCO UV Vis NIR V 670 spectrometer. P3HT has strong absorption in the visible region while TCNQ has the absorption peak at 400nm with broad band of absorption extending into IR region. Spectrum for the blend is the superposed spectra of the component moieties. The 3:1 blend of P3HT with TCNQ has broad spectral sensitivity for absorption and can be used as the best photoactive blend for construction of a plastic solar cell. The energy difference (band gap) between Highest Occupied Molecular Orbit (HOMO) and the Lowest Un-occupied Molecular Orbit (LUMO) of the samples are determined through Tauc’s plot. Calculations from Tauc’s plot indicated that pure P3HT sample has onset wavelength of 637 nm with a band gap of 1.94eV. Onset wavelengths for 3:1, 1:1 & 1:3 blends are 662nm, 649nm & 657nm respectively. Their respective energy gaps are 1.87eV, 1.91eV & 1.89eV. Among the samples 3:1 P:N blend has the least energy gap. Either 3:1 or 1:1 P:N blends are equally probable for construction of solar cell. The absorption by the blends can be further enhanced by either dye sensitization or by exploiting Plasmon resonance. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Selection and Peer-review under responsibility of International conference on materials research and applications-2016. Keywords: TCNQ; P3HT; HOMO; LUMO; LSPR.
* Corresponding author. E-mail address: [email protected]. 2214-7853 © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Selection and Peer-review under responsibility of International conference on materials research and applications-2016.
Ishwar Naik / Materials Today: Proceedings 3 (2016) 3608–3613
3609
1. Introduction Silicon based solar cells and thin film solar cells are suffering from material cost, installation cost, and fabrication complications [1].The search for low cost, efficient, flexible and easily processable solar cells, has become a global challenge at present in the field of electronics. Plastic or polymeric solar cells are promising in this direction but needs intensive effort regarding the choice of the proper donor-acceptor pair and with respect to optimization of their weight ratios in the blend. The Physics involved in the energy conversion efficiency of polymer cells is a multistep process like photon absorption, exciton formation and migration, exciton dissociation, charge transport and Charge collection [2]. The exciton diffusion mechanism and the charge collection rate have been significantly improved with the introduction of bulk hetero junction photoactive blends. Among the conducting polymers, P3HT has the absorption spectrum matching well with the strongest solar spectrum and also has good transport properties. The work is focused to prepare an optimized active blend of the widely used donor polymer Poly [3-hexylthiophene-2, 5dily)(P3HT) and N- type acceptor 7,7,8,8-Tetracyanoquinodumethane (TCNQ). TCNQ is a dimethylanilino substituted cyanoalkyne having super electron accepting property with efficient intramolecular charge transfer interactions [3]. The strong absorption spectrum of the donor P3HT in the visible region and super acceptor property of TCNQ, coupled with the wide spectral absorption are the key factors in selecting them as the donor-acceptor pair. The resulting active blend must show a broad spectral absorption extending from UV region to the region beyond the visible for a proper composition between them. Blends of different donor-acceptor weight ratios are prepared in high boiling point solvent chloro-benzene and their glass coated samples (solution cast method) are characterized by UVVisible spectra. The blend showing broad spectral sensitivity for absorption is selected as the best photo active blend.
2. Experimental The p-type donor polymer P3HT ( electronic grade, average mol wt 15000-45000, HOMO 5eV,LUMO3eV) & ntype acceptor 7,7,8,8-Tetracyanoquinodimethane(TCNQ) with LUMO 4.6eV having N-type mobility of about 10-5 cm2/V-s are purchased from Sigma Aldrich Corporation. The solvent chloro-benzene is procured from Rankem Chemicals. These chemicals are used as received without further purification. The chemical structures of these donor and acceptor molecules are as shown below,
Structure of P3HT
Structure of TCNQ
5 mg of P3HT and 5 mg of TCNQ are dissolved in 50 ml of chlorobenzene in separate beakers and magnetically stirred for 7 hrs at room temperature until clear solutions are formed. The resulting solutions are of concentrations 0.1 mg/ml each. The solutions are blended with P3HT: TCNQ weight ratios of 3:1, 1:1 & 1:3 keeping the total weight of the film fixed to 2mg. The mixtures are magnetically stirred for 10 hours at room temperature and then
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Ishwar Naik/ Materials Today: Proceedings 3 (2016) 3608–3613
transferred to 3cm diameter petri-plates, dried at room temperature and then at about 70 0 C in hot air oven. The film composition is as shown in the Table 1. Table 1. Composition of prepared samples. P3HT/CB (P type)
TCNQ/CB (N type)
(in mg)
(in mg)
2.0 1.5 1.0 0.5 0.0
P:N
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0
Pure P 3:1 1:1 1:3 Pure N
3. Result and discussion
Samples are characterized using JASCO UV Vis NIR V-670 spectrometer
3.0
0.6
Absorbance
Absorbance
2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0
0.4
0.2
0.5 0.0
0.0 350
400
450
500
550
600
650
Wavelength (nm)
Fig1. Spectrum of pure P3HT film
700
750
350
400
450
500
550
600
650
700
Wavelength (nm)
Fig 2. Spectrum of 3:1, P3HT: TCNQ
750
Ishwar Naik / Materials Today: Proceedings 3 (2016) 3608–3613
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0.6 0.5
Absorbance
Absorbance
0.6
0.4
0.4 0.3 0.2
0.2 0.1 0.0
0.0 350
400
450
500
550
600
650
700
350
750
400
450
Fig3. Spectrum of 1:1, P3HT: TCNQ
550
600
650
700
750
Fig 4. Spectrum of 1:3 P3HT: TCNQ
3.0
0.5
Pure P 3:1 P:N 1:1 P:N 1:3 P:N Pure N
2.5
Absorbance
0.4
Absorbance
500
Wavelength (nm)
Wavelength (nm)
0.3
0.2
0.1
2.0 1.5 1.0 0.5
0.0 350
400
450
500
550
600
650
700
750
0.0 350
Wavelength (nm)
400
450
500
550
600
650
700
Wavelength (nm) Fig5. Pure TCNQ
Fig6.Overlay Spectra of all films
Tauc’s Plot for determining the Band Gap of the blends -5
4.0x10
-6
3.0x10
-5
3.5x10
-6
2.5x10
-5
3.0x10
-6
2.0x10
2
-5
2.0x10
2
a /
2
a /
2
-5
2.5x10
-5
1.5x10
-6
1.0x10
-5
1.0x10
-6
-7
5.0x10
0.0 0.0010
-6
1.5x10
5.0x10
0.0012
0.0014
0.0016
1/
0.0018
0.0020
0.001577
Fig7. Tauc’s plot for pure P3HT film
0.0022
0.0 0.0010
0.0012
0.0014
0.001518
0.0016
0.0018
0.0020
1/
Fig 8. Tauc’s plot for 3:1, P3HT: TCNQ
0.0022
750
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Ishwar Naik/ Materials Today: Proceedings 3 (2016) 3608–3613
-6
3.0x10
-6
3.0x10
-6
2.5x10
-6
2.5x10
-6 -6
2
2.0x10
-6
2
a /
1.5x10
2
a /
2
2.0x10
-6
1.5x10
-6
1.0x10
-6
1.0x10
-7
5.0x10
0.0 0.0010
-7
5.0x10
0.0
0.0012
0.0014
0.0016
0.001544
0.0018
0.0020
0.0022
0.0012
1/
Fig9. Tauc’s plot for 1:1, P3HT: TCNQ
0.0015
1/
0.0018
0.0021
0.001522
Fig 10. Tauc’s plot for 1:3, P3HT: TCNQ
-7
1.0x10
-8
9.0x10
-8
8.0x10
-8
2
a /
2
7.0x10
-8
6.0x10
-8
5.0x10
-8
4.0x10
-8
3.0x10
-8
2.0x10
-8
1.0x10
0.0012
0.0015
1/
0.0018
0.0021
0.001305
Fig11. Tauc’s plot for pure P3HT film
Major problem in polymer solar cells is the insufficient absorption in the solar irradiance spectrum. Even the widely studied Phenylene vinylene polymers have the band edges at 550nm [2]. Pure P3HT film has absorption extending from 300 nm to 637 nm. The Spectrum has two peaks at 520nm and 560 nm with one shoulder around 620nm, having onset of absorption (the absorption edge) about 637nm matching well with the strongest solar spectrum as shown in Fig1.The first two peaks arise from π – π* transition and the shoulder is due to inter-chain interactions [2]. TCNQ can form various thin films of complexes with perfect photoelectric properties and also it is characterized by unusual electron transfer properties. Fig5 is the absorption spectrum for pure TCNQ with absorption peak at 400nm which is attributed to π – π* transitions. It has the absorption band extending from UV to the IR region [4]. Spectra for blends are the superposition of the component spectra as indicated in Fig2, Fig3 and Fig4 for 3:1, 1:1 and 1:3 P-N junctions respectively. Fig6 represents the overlay spectra of the samples. Effect of TCNQ in the blend is to reduce the absorption of P3HT in the visible region followed by increase of absorption in IR region. The modification in the spectrum is because of the interaction between TCNQ molecules and P3HT polymer chain. TCNQ molecules hinder the interaction among the P3HT chains. Relatively 3:1 blend has wide spectral sensitivity and can be considered as the best photoactive blend among the samples prepared. Tauc’s plot for pure P and pure N samples are as shown in Fig7 to Fig11. Tauc’s plots for the blends are represented in Fig8, Fig9 and Fig10 for 3:1, 1:1 and 1:3 P-N junctions respectively. The calculations from Tauc’s plot shows that the onset wavelength of the optimized blend is 662nm with band gap 1.87 eV. Even 1:1 blend can also be considered for solar cell construction. Practically 1:1 blend contains more P-N junctions than 3:1 blend. The absorption by the
Ishwar Naik / Materials Today: Proceedings 3 (2016) 3608–3613
3613
blend can be further enhanced by doping with metal nano particles, exploiting Localised Surface Plasmon Resonance (LSPR) or by dye sensitization. Nanodoping /dye sensitization of 3:1 & 1:1 P3HT: TCNQ blends and construction of solar cell using the same is our work in progress. 4. Conclusion We have investigated UV- VISIBLE absorption spectra for 3:1, 1:1, 1:3 blends of P3HT: TCNQ mixed P-N junction photoactive material along with their pristine glass coated films. Spectral analysis indicated weight percentage of TCNQ in the blend has tuned the spectral response. 3:1 blend of P3HT: TCNQ shows a broad spectral absorption and selected as the best photo active blend. The optimized blend has the least band gap of 1.87eV. By doping the blend with metal oxide nano particles or by dye sensitization, the absorption can be further enhanced. Consideration of 1:1 blend is also equally probable for construction of the solar cell. Exploiting Plasmon Resonance through nano doping on the selected blend is our further study. Even it is planned to carry out dye sensitization of the active blend. Finally we conclude that 3:1and 1:1 blends of P3HT: TCNQ can be used as the photoactive material for constructing a plastic solar cell and the construction of the solar cell is under progress.. Acknowledgements Thanks to UGC for sanctioning the Minor research project entitled “construction and characterization of an organic solar cell (OPV) devised from a self made low cost spin coating machine”. Order No.: 1419-MRP/14-15/KAKA088/UGC-SWRO, dated 04-02-2015.
References [1] R. Tipnis, D. Laird, M. Mathai, Material Matters 3.4(2008), 92. [2] G. LI, V. Shrotriya, Y. Yao, J. Haung, Y. Yang. J. Mat. Chem., 17(2007), 3126-3140. [3] M Kivala, C Boundan, Chemistry, 15:16(2009), 4113-23. [4] X. Jiang, Z. Li, C. Sun, X. Zhang, Int. J. Physical Sciences, 7:6(2012), 901-905.