Polymer solar cells with novel fullerene-based acceptor

Alternative acceptor materials are possible candidates to improve the optical absorption andyor the open circuit voltage ofpolymer–fullerene solar cells. We studied a novel fullerene-type acceptor, DPM-12, for application in polymer–fullerene bulkheterojunction photovoltaic devices. Though DPM-12 has the identical redox potentials as methanofullerene PCBM, surprisinglyhigh open circuit voltages in the range VOCs0.95 V were measured for OC1C10-PPV:DPM-12-based samples. The potential forphotovoltaic application was studied by means of photovoltaic characterization of solar cells including current–voltagemeasurements and external quantum yield spectroscopy. Further studies were carried out by profiling the solar cell parameters vs.temperature and white light intensity.