Molecularly ordered conjugated polymer photovoltaics with high light to current efficiency

ORGN 557

Euiyong Hwang, ehwang1@lsu.edu, K. M. Nalin de Silva, and Evgueni E. Nesterov, een@lsu.edu. Department of Chemistry, Louisiana State University, 232 Choppin Hall, Baton Rouge, LA 70803
Conjugated polymer based organic solar cells have attracted significant research efforts as they may provide a simple and inexpensive foundation for conversion of solar light to electricity. Despite substantial progress made in the recent years, they still suffer from low efficiency due to poor charge transport characteristics of disordered organic materials, among other reasons. We are working on a strategy to improve this parameter by using specially designed rigid conjugated precursor compounds that can be self-assembled on a transparent electrode surface. Subsequent growth of conjugated polymer brushes initiated by the self-assembled monolayer results in a polymer film with improved molecular order and better charge-transport properties. Using this “bottom-up” strategy to build a complete photovoltaic device with improved efficiency will be discussed in this presentation.