Conducting Polymers for Optoelectronic Devices and Organic Solar Cells: A Review

Ary R Murad; Ahmed Iraqi; Shujahadeen B Aziz; Sozan N Abdullah; Mohamad A Brza

doi:10.3390/polym12112627

Conducting Polymers for Optoelectronic Devices and Organic Solar Cells: A Review

Polymers (Basel). 2020 Nov 9;12(11):2627. doi: 10.3390/polym12112627.

Authors

Ary R Murad^{1

2}, Ahmed Iraqi¹, Shujahadeen B Aziz^{3

4}, Sozan N Abdullah⁵, Mohamad A Brza⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S3 7HF, UK.
² Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, College of Medical and Applied Sciences, Chamchamal, Sulaimani 46023, Iraq.
³ Hameed Majid Advanced Polymeric Materials Research Lab., Department of Physics, College of Science, University of Sulaimani, Qlyasan Street, Sulaimani 46001, Iraq.
⁴ Department of Civil engineering, College of Engineering, Komar University of Science and Technology, Sulaimani 46001, Iraq.
⁵ Department of Chemistry, College of Science, University of Sulaimani, Qlyasan Street, Kurdistan Regional Government, Sulaimani 46001, Iraq.
⁶ Department of Manufacturing and Materials Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, International Islamic University of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Gombak 53100, Malaysia.

Abstract

In this review paper, we present a comprehensive summary of the different organic solar cell (OSC) families. Pure and doped conjugated polymers are described. The band structure, electronic properties, and charge separation process in conjugated polymers are briefly described. Various techniques for the preparation of conjugated polymers are presented in detail. The applications of conductive polymers for organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs), organic field effect transistors (OFETs), and organic photovoltaics (OPVs) are explained thoroughly. The architecture of organic polymer solar cells including single layer, bilayer planar heterojunction, and bulk heterojunction (BHJ) are described. Moreover, designing conjugated polymers for photovoltaic applications and optimizations of highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO)-lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) energy levels are discussed. Principles of bulk heterojunction polymer solar cells are addressed. Finally, strategies for band gap tuning and characteristics of solar cell are presented. In this article, several processing parameters such as the choice of solvent(s) for spin casting film, thermal and solvent annealing, solvent additive, and blend composition that affect the nano-morphology of the photoactive layer are reviewed.

Keywords: HOMO-LUMO energy levels; Yamamoto coupling reactions; architecture of polymer solar cells; condensation polymerization; conjugated polymers; organic photovoltaics; oxidative polymerizations.

Publication types

Review