A soluble pentacene diketone (PDK) photoprecursor, 6,13-dihydro-6,13-ethanopentacene-15,16-dione, was used with C-60 to fabricate hetero-layered organic photovoltaic devices. The PDK spin-coated film converts to an insoluble pentacene film upon photoirradiation. The photoconversion process strongly depends on the solvent used for spin-coating. A mixture of chloroform and dichlorobenzene (ratio 1:5) gave the best photovoltaic device performance. The absorbed photon-to-current efficiency in the photoconverted-pentacenefilm device was similar to that of the vacuum-deposited pentacene film. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.