Development of fibres with photovoltaic effects

In this thesis, textile structures which show photovoltaic effects were developed applying organic based solar cell materials onto textiles. Photovoltaic characteristics of developed flexible devices were compared with conventional solar cells consist of glass and plastic substrates. In organic solar cells which employed polypropylene monofilament and tapes as textile based materials, polymeric materials (PEDOT:PSS and CNT:PANI) and silver layer was used as bottom electrode, P3HT:PCBM and MDMO-PPV:PCBM mixtures were used as photoactive layer and different transparent metal layers (LiF/Al, Al/Ag) were used as top electrode. Contrary to standard solar cells, semi-transparent cathodes were used so that light has come through upper electrode which forms one of the original aspects of this work. An efficiency of 0.33 percent for polypropylene tapes and an efficiency of 0.02 percent for polypropylene fibres were obtained, using polymeric anode and in some experiments, silver metal layer to substitute ITO. By using UV-Vis apsorption spectra, images from AFM and SEM microscopy techniques, measurements of current-voltage (I-V) and monochromatic photon-current conversion efficiency (IPCE) photovoltaic structures were evaluated.Photovoltaic textile structures generating electricity using solar energy is to satify power requirements of portable small electronic devices in the near future. With further development of these devices, power requirements may be generated for various end uses such as lighting, cooling, heating.