Effects of Thermal Annealing on Optical Properties of Poly (3-Hexyithiophene): [6,6]-Phenyl C<sub>6o</sub>-Butyric Acid Methyl Ester Blend Thin Film

Abstract

Abstract:Organic solar cells (OSCs) have gained much attention in the field of organic electronics since it has advantage of physical light weight, easy to fabricate, consumed less production cost, and could be produced in large scale for energy harvesting applications. These types of electronics are promising devices that can be used to tackle today's energy issue. Bulk hetero junction organic thin film was deposited using spin-coating method. The material used for the deposition of the thin film is the combination of poly (3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and [6,6]-phenyl C 6o -butyric acid methyl ester (PC 60 BM) that form the interconnection of donor/acceptor component. Deposition was done by spin coating P3HT: PC 60 BM onto glass substrate in order to form 100nm P3HT: PC 60 BM active layer. Thermal annealing at three different temperatures was carried out on the samples deposited. The optical characterization of the thin film was investigated using UV-VIS spectrophotometer. The thin film based on P3HT: PC 60 BM blend film was deposited and annealed at 120°C, 130°C, and 140°C temperature, respectively. The result shows that the film annealed at 140°C has the highest absorption peak at 520nm wavelength in the visible region followed by annealing done at 130°C. This shows that thermal treatment may improve the stability/efficiency of P3HT: PC 60 BM thin film.