This study investigates the influence of active layer thickness and temperature on the performance of PM6:Y6 based organic solar cells (OSCS). The simulation of these parameters provides valuable insights into optimizing the efficiency and understanding the behaviors of OSCs under different operating conditions. In the investigation of active layer, thickness simulation was conducted using SCAPS-1D for OSCs based on PM6:Y6 and the J-V characterizations of the OSCs at varies active layer thickness were analyzed. The results reveal that as the active layer thickness increases from 250 nm to 450 nm there were a notable rise in the short current circuit density (Jsc) from 27.12 to 31.04 mA/cm2. This enhancement in Jsc was attributed to an increase in light absorption leading to generation of more excitons within the active layer. Consequently, more charge carriers were produced resulting in increased Jsc. It was observed that while a slight increase in Voc was regarded as the active layer thickness increases from 0.954 to 0.966 V, a significant decrease in fill factor (FF) from 72.92 to 65.8% was observed beyond a critical active layer thickness of 400 nm dropping from 67.62 to 65.8%. This reduction in FF beyond the threshold of 400 nm suggested and increase in recombination rate of charge carrier. The decrease in FF indicated that a thicker active layer might result in a higher likelihood of charge carrier recombination, which led to the observed reduction in FF and, consequently, the overall performance of the OSC. Furthermore, it was observed that the Jsc of the OSCs increased with working temperature, reaching a saturation point. However, at high temperatures, Jsc started to decrease. This behavior can be explained by considering the relationship between the current delivered by the cell, the number of free charge carriers generated, and their mobility. As the working temperature increased, the Voc decreased from 0.96 to 0.95V. In contrast, the FF and PCE decreased from 67.6 to 65.43% and 20.25 to 19.47% respectively. Further from the Nyquist plot, it was found that the electrode resistance increases with temperature while semiconductor materials resistance decreases with working temperature, which shows the semiconducting behavior.
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