Understanding the open circuit voltage in organic solar cells on the basis of a donor-acceptor abrupt (p-n++) heterojunction

By using electrical characterization and classical solid state semiconductor device theory, we demonstrate that the open circuit voltage (Voc) in organic solar cells based on non-intentional doped semiconductors is fundamentally limited by the built-in potential (Vbi) originated at a donor-acceptor abrupt (p-n++) heterojunction in case of selective contacts. Our analysis is validated using P3HT:PCBM devices fabricated in our research group. We also demonstrate that such a result can be generalized using data already reported in literature for fullerene-based solar cells. Finally, we show that the dependence of Voc on the device contacts can be understood in terms of the potential barriers formed by the Fermi level alignment of semiconductors at the heterojunction and at the Schottky junctions.