Volume 30, No. 1
January 2005

Polymer–Fullerene Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells
René A.J. Janssen, Jan C. Hummelen, and N. Serdar Sariciftci

Abstract
Nanostructured phase-separated blends, or bulk heterojunctions, of conjugated polymers and fullerene derivatives form a very attractive approach to large–area, solid–state organic solar cells. The key feature of these cells is that they combine easy processing from solution on a variety of substrates with good performance. Efficiencies of up to 5% in solar light have been achieved, and lifetimes are increasing to thousands of hours. Further improvements can be expected and some of the promising strategies towards that goal are presented in this article.

Keywords: bulk heterojunctions, polymer–fullerene, nanostructure, photovoltaics,
solar cells.