Publication date: 15th December 2025
The interplay between exciton harvesting and charge photogeneration on the one side and charge recombination and transport on the other side determines the performance of organic solar cells. Nongeminate recombination is usually considered as reduced Langevin recombination. Langevin recombination describes the finding of electrons and holes in a disordered, homogeneous material by a rate proportional to the sum of electron and hole mobilities. The Langevin recombination rate is calculated based on experimentally determined charge carrier mobilities. The reduction factor is also calculated, as the fraction between the experimentally measured recombination rate and the Langevin recombination rate. Based on our earlier work [1], we try to shed light on what physical processes and properties of the solar cells actually lead to the reduction factor, including photogeneration and the actual interplay of mobilities for charge recombination [2] and, separately and differently, extraction [3]. We will then explain how nongeminate recombination, in combination with charge extraction, dominates the fill factor of organic solar cells.
