Photovoltaic Cells Involving Nonconjugated Conductive Polymer, Iodine-doped Styrene-Butadiene-Rubber (SBR)

Photovoltaic cells have been fabricated using titanium dioxide/ iodine-doped Styrene-Butadiene-Rubber/ carbon on indium-tin-oxide coated PET substrates. Photo-currents and photo-voltages were measured for varying intensities of light from a white light bulb, with emission from 300 to 700 nm. Iodine-doped SBR has absorption in the range of $\sim$ 250 to 750 nm. The cells as fabricated were characterized and were found to show significantly higher conversion efficiencies than previously reported. For an incident light intensity of about 5 mW/cm$^{2}$ a maximum photo-current density of about 0.2 mA/cm$^{2}$ and photo-voltage of about 0.8 V were recorded. The low cost of nonconjugated conductive polymers including SBR may provide a cheaper alternative to other materials for photovoltaic applications.