Power-Law Density of States in Organic Solar Cells Revealed by the Open-Circuit Voltage Dependence of the Ideality Factor

The density of states (DOS) is fundamentally important for understanding physical processes in organic disordered semiconductors, yet hard to determine experimentally. We evaluated the DOS by considering recombination via tail states and using the temperature and open-circuit voltage (Voc) dependence of the ideality factor. By performing Suns-Voc measurements, we find that the energetic disorder increases deeper into the band gap, which is not expected for a Gaussian or exponential DOS. The linear dependence of the disorder on energy reveals the power-law DOS in organic solar cells.Received 13 July 2022Revised 27 February 2023Accepted 13 April 2023DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.130.236403© 2023 American Physical SocietyPhysics Subject Headings (PhySH)Research AreasCarrier generation & recombinationDensity of statesThin-film photovoltaicsPhysical SystemsOrganic semiconductorsCondensed Matter, Materials & Applied PhysicsEnergy Science & TechnologyPolymers & Soft Matter