ABSTRACT
Carrier mobility is one of the important factors that dictate the performance of the photovoltaic cells. It has been found that carrier mobility in organic photovoltaic cells can be improved by ameliorating the nanoscale morphology of the active layer through thermal annealing and solvent annealing. With the advantages of being low cost, lightweight and flexible, organic photovoltaics are becoming a promising technology for sustainable energy harvesting. A multiscale simulation strategy that integrates Monte Carlo simulation with optical absorption calculation and macroscopic simulation will be a suitable approach to simulate the performance of organic photovoltaic cells. Compared to trial-and-error-based physical experiments, computational modeling and simulation is a more effective and economical way to optimize devices for best performance. The poly-3-hexyl-thiophene (P3HT): phenyl-C61-butyric acid methylester (PCBM) material system is used as an example to demonstrate the effectiveness of optimization via simulation. The P3HT: PCBM system is chosen simply because it is commonly investigated in the literature and many parameters are readily available.
