Semiconducting Carbon Nanotubes in Photovoltaic Blends: the case of PTB7:PC60BM:(6,5) SWNT

TL;DR

This study investigates how (6,5) single-walled carbon nanotubes influence exciton dissociation and charge transfer in PTB7:PCBM blends, aiming to enhance organic photovoltaic efficiency.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the role of SWNTs in excitonic dynamics within ternary photovoltaic systems, advancing understanding of their optoelectronic behavior.

Findings

SWNTs facilitate exciton dissociation

SWNTs enhance charge transfer processes

Implications for improved photovoltaic device performance

Abstract

Blends of carbon nanotubes with conjugated polymer and fullerene derivatives are complex nanocomposite systems, which have recently attracted a great research interest for their photovoltaic ability. Therefore, gaining a better understanding of the excitonic dynamics in such materials can be important to boost the efficiency of excitonic solar cells. Here, we studied the photophysics of a ternary system in which the polymer PTB7 and the fullerene derivative PCBM are integrated with (6,5) SWNTs. We highlight the contribution of SWNTs in the exciton dissociation and in the charge transfer process. These findings can be useful for the exploitation of these multi-component systems for organic photovoltaic and, in general, optoelectronic applications.