Highly efficient solar cells based on poly(3-butylthiophene) nanowires

Poly(3-butylthiophene) (P3BT) nanowires, prepared by solution-phase self-assembly, have been used to construct highly efficient P3BT/fullerene nanocomposite solar cells. The fullerene/P3BT nanocomposite films showed an electrically bicontinuous nanoscale morphology with average field-effect hole mobilities as high as 8.0 x 10(-3) cm2/Vs due to the interconnected P3BT nanowire network revealed by TEM and AFM imaging. The power conversion efficiency of fullerene/P3BT nanowire devices was 3.0% (at 100 mW/cm2, AM1.5) in air and found to be identical with our similarly tested fullerene/poly(3-hexylthiophene) photovoltaic cells. This discovery expands the scope of promising materials and architectures for efficient bulk heterojunction solar cells.