# Recombination in polymer-fullerene bulk heterojunction solar cells

Source: [Recombination in polymer-fullerene bulk heterojunction solar cells](<https://www.sota2.com/research/paper/68fa2f821e209131ce86d136>)

Collection index: [llms.txt](<https://www.sota2.com/research/llms.txt>)

Data updated: 2025-10-24T17:38:07.060Z

Authors: Sarah R. Cowan, Anshuman Roy, Alan J. Heeger

Published: 2010-10-24T23:00:54.000Z

## Abstract

Recombination of photogenerated charge carriers in polymer bulk heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells reduces the short circuit current (Jsc) and the fill factor (FF). Identifying the mechanism of recombination is, therefore, fundamentally important for increasing the power conversion efficiency. Light intensity and temperature dependent current-voltage measurements on polymer BHJ cells made from a variety of different semiconducting polymers and fullerenes show that the recombination kinetics are voltage dependent and evolve from first order recombination at short circuit to bimolecular recombination at open circuit as a result of increasing the voltage-dependent charge carrier density in the cell. The "missing 0.3V" inferred from comparison of the band gaps of the bulk heterojunction materials and the measured open circuit voltage at room temperature results from the temperature dependence of the quasi-Fermi-levels in the polymer and fullerene domains - a conclusion based upon the fundamental statistics of Fermions.

## Recorded benchmark results

A research result applies to its stated dataset, split, metric and evaluation configuration. Compare like-for-like settings, preserve the metric's unit and direction, and distinguish paper-reported results from independent reproduction. The best result recorded here is not a claim of exhaustive, current global coverage.

## Original sources and implementation

[Original paper](<https://arxiv.org/abs/1010.5021>)

[PDF](<https://arxiv.org/pdf/1010.5021.pdf>)