Enhanced charge collection in confined bulk heterojunction organic solar cells

Confining blended poly(3-hexylthiophene) and [6,6]-phenyl-C 61 -butyric acid methyl ester organic solar cell active layers within nanometer-scale cylindrical pores nearly double the supported short-circuit photocurrent density compared to equivalent unconfined volumes of the same blend and increases the poly(3-hexylthiophene) hole mobility in the blend by nearly 500 times. Grazing incidence x-ray diffraction measurements show that the confinement changes the polymer orientation distribution, suppressing low charge conductivity orientations while simultaneously disrupting polymer ordering.