A fullerene–single wall carbon nanotube complex for polymer bulk heterojunction photovoltaic cells

Abstract

A novel immobilized fullerene–single wall carbon nanotube (C₆₀–SWCNT) complex was synthesized via a microwave induced functionalization approach. It has been used as a component of the photoactive layer in a bulk heterojunction photovoltaic cell. As compared to a control device with only C₆₀, the addition of SWCNTs resulted in an improvement of both the short circuit current density J_SC and the fill factor (FF). This device takes advantage of the electron accepting feature of C₆₀ and the high electron transport capability of SWCNTs. The results indicate that C₆₀ decorated SWCNTs are promising additives for performance enhancement of polymer photovoltaic cells.