High efficiency polarization-sensitive photovoltaic devices using oriented organic thin film

We report the fabrication of polarization-sensitive photovoltaic devices made of hetero-junction type vacuum-sublimed multilayer films composed of aligned 3,4,9,10-perylenetetracarboxylic-bis-benzimidazole (aligned-PTCBI) and titanyl phthalocyanine (TiOPc). The PTCBI layer was successfully made to be well aligned without losing high photovoltaic power-conversion efficiency. High polarization sensitivity was achieved at around 540 nm. The device configuration was ITO/In/aligned-PTCBI/TiOPc/PEDOT:PSS/Au and the thickness of each layer was optimized for polarization-sensitive photo-detection. The power-conversion efficiencies under the polarized white light parallel and perpendicular to the molecular-orientation axis, through the ITO electrode were 0.78% and 0.45%, respectively. The ratio of short-circuit current, parallel to perpendicular, was 1.66. This device can be used as transparent photo-detectors, because the transmittance of the Au electrode was about 40% at 500-600nm. The short-circuit current ratio was increased to 3.0, when 5 10nm monochromatic polarized light through the Au electrode was used.