Relationship between Energetic Disorder and Reduced Recombination of Free Carriers in Organic Solar Cells

Abstract Reducing non‐radiative recombination is key to achieve high fill factors (FFs) in organic solar cells. While it is generally accepted that recombination proceeds via charge transfer (CT) states at the donor:acceptor interface, the underlying principles that dictate the decay kinetics of these CT states are not yet well understood. Here, a study on the effect of energetic disorder is presented. Based on a data set of 10 representative donor:acceptor blends, clear correlations between disorder, the recombination coefficient of free charge carriers, and the non‐radiative voltage loss are found. It is suggested that a narrower distribution of CT energies leads to a longer CT decay time and thus reduces non‐radiative losses. This leads to a simultaneous improvement of the FF and open circuit voltage and highlights the importance of having materials with low energetic disorder on the way to the commercialisation of organic photovoltaics.