Solution Processed Organic Tandem Solar Cells

The authors investigated organic tandem solar cells with solution processed recombination contacts made from a TiO2 sol in combination with PEDOT:PSS. Tandem cells were prepared either with two P3HT:PCBM-based subcells or by combining PCDTBT:PC[70]BM and PCPDTBT:PC[70]BM. Optical modeling is used to predict experimental short circuit currents of the tandem solar cells as a function of layer thickness. Both types of tandem cells yield energy conversion efficiencies of ca. 3.3%. We propose that a significant improvement of the performance of the PCDTBT:PC[70]BM - PCPDTBT:PC[70]BM tandem is possible by optimization of the recombination contact and layer thicknesses of both subcells.