Modeling organic bulk-heterojunction solar cells: Parameter stability and photocurrent transients

An opto-electronic device model for organic bulk-heterojunction solar cells is presented (setfos by fluxim). First, the optical in-coupling into a multilayer stack is calculated. From the photon absorption profile a charge-transfer (CT) exciton profile is derived. These CT-excitons are then dissociated according to the Onsager-Braun model. The resulting motion of electrons and holes is modeled considering both drift and diffusion. We analyze measurements on P3HT:PCBM based solar cells and derive a set of parameter values, including values for CT-exciton dissociation. The experiments are well described and the stability of the parameters under various conditions is tested. This includes the simulation of current-voltage curves, the dependence of the short-circuit current on the layer thickness, and transient photo-currents. It is shown that simulating the transient photo-current is particularly helpful in determining the values of electron and hole mobility. This highlights the need to measure transient photo-currents to extract device parameters such as mobilities and CT-exciton dissociation constants.\\[4pt] J. Appl. Phys. \textbf{106}, 104507 (2009)