Improved open circuit voltage of the photovoltaic device using ferrocene as a donor material

In this work, we have studied the combination of ferrocene (Fc), the donor material and fullerene derivatives such as [6,6]-phenyl C₆₁-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) and the acceptor material, for fabricating organic photovoltaic devices. The effect of temperature on open circuit voltage (V_oc), short-circuit current density (J_sc), fill factor (FF) and the photoconversion efficiency (PCE), η has been investigated. By varying the annealing temperature, the V_oc, FF and PCE, η, were increased up to 140 °C and further increasing of temperature it remains constant. However, the short-circuit current density was not varied concomitantly with other parameters. The maximum PCE was observed to be 0.053% at 140 °C, which is the best annealing temperature in the present study. There have been many attempts to synthesize Fc and fullerene dyads but as an application wise very few report are available. Therefore here we have tried to use Fc and PCBM for photovoltaic device applications.