I came across an article on organic solar cells during the my time in the Garcia Research Program at Stony Brook University this past summer and was instantly fascinated by the versatility and possible uses of these devices. Imagine abundant, cheap solar cells being integrated around the world! Intrigued by the idea of using plastics to capture solar energy, I did more research into this technology. After thorough reading, I found that a significant limitation of these devices was the narrow range over which they could absorb light. I wanted to investigate enhancements to the self-assembled organic solar cell system to increase the potential of these devices. Recalling that I had studied in AP Biology how the presence of multiple types of pigments in plant leaves maximized photosynthesis, I decided to incorporate multiple donors into the solar cells after reading about similar blends in various research papers that improved device performance.

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• Chemistry