Photovoltaics of interconnected networks

All three types of organic solar cells i.e. sensitised photoelectrochemical cells, molecular organic and polymeric "plastic" cells, work best when uti lising interpenetrating networks. Although the basic construction is equal, the current understanding and the modelling of devices by different groups are contradictory. Whereas photoelectrochemists use classical models based on the solid/electrolyte junctions, the polymeric, organic device communit y seems to prefer to treat the network system as an intrinsic material sand wiched between metals of different work function (metal-insulator-metal MIM devices). Both approaches will be discussed with recent experiments perfor med with molecular organic solar cells.