Current-voltage characteristics of organic photovoltaic cells following deposition of cathode electrode.

The current-voltage characteristics of benzoporphine-fullerene solar cells were measured subsequent to the deposition of Al as a cathode material. Even in vacuum, a shift in the open circuit voltage was observed at 20 min after Al deposition. Moreover, the displacement of inert gases (N(2)or Ar) in the evaporation chamber enhanced the photovoltaic parameters. The power conversion efficiency was increased by 24% over the initial characteristics (from 1.04% to 1.29%), which indicates that the structure of the organic-metal interface changed rapidly after Al deposition, even if the process was performed in an air-free glovebox.

Drastic enhancement of discotic mesomorphism induced by fluorination of the peripheral phenyl groups in triphenylene mesogens.

Four derivatives of hexakis(4-alkoxybenzoyloxy)triphenylene, for which peripheral phenylene groups are fluorinated at the inner and the outer positions were studied for their mesomorphic behaviour to reveal that the alteration of fluorinated positions in the phenyl rings leads to a drastic change of the mesomorphism involving the thermal stability.