Electrochemical studies of conjugated polymer blends used in photovoltaic blends

Abstract: This research is focused to build the basic unit of a Photovoltaic (PV) cell by semiconductors made of conducting plastic. Photovoltaic is the technology that generates direct current (DC) electrical power measured in Watts (W) or Kilowatts (KW) from semiconductors when they are illuminated by photons. As long as light is shining on the solar cell (the name for the individual PV element), it generates electrical power. When the light stops, the electricity stops. Solar cells never need recharging like a battery. Some have been in continuous out door operation on earth or in space for over 30 years. Semiconducting polymer in photovoltaic are showing early promise as an alternative option in the solar PV sector, which has very influence by silicon technology so far. Although it is early days yet for the technology, the vision is for the mass production of these materials by simple roll-to-roll or printing processes with a low thermal budget and less rigorous requirements than traditional inorganic semiconductor technology. Organic semiconductors do not have the same efficiency as conventional thin film silicon solar cells below 5% to compare an efficiency of 20% is easily achieved with high quality silicon photovoltaic. There is however a much more aggravating (and neglected) problem for organic/polymer photovoltaic in general and that is their stability which is far from even competing with the inorganic solar cells that easily achieve operational lifetimes more of 25 years. The lifetime of organic photovoltaic cells has been given relatively little attention as judged by the technical and scientific literature. There are many possible causes of the observed instability/decay of these devices such as operational temperature, light intensity, photochemistry, photo oxidation, chemical reactions between the electrodes and the various constituents of the layers in the photovoltaic device under illumination and in the dark.