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Jeong S, Rana A, Kim JH, Qian D, Park K, Jang JH, Luke J, Kwon S, Kim J, Tuladhar PS, Kim JS, Lee K, Durrant JR, Kang H. New Ternary Blend Strategy Based on a Vertically Self-Assembled Passivation Layer Enabling Efficient and Photostable Inverted Organic Solar Cells. Adv Sci (Weinh) 2023; 10:e2206802. [PMID: 37097705 DOI: 10.1002/advs.202206802] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/21/2022] [Revised: 04/05/2023] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Herein, a new ternary strategy to fabricate efficient and photostable inverted organic photovoltaics (OPVs) is introduced by combining a bulk heterojunction (BHJ) blend and a fullerene self-assembled monolayer (C60 -SAM). Time-of-flight secondary-ion mass spectrometry - analysis reveals that the ternary blend is vertically phase separated with the C60 -SAM at the bottom and the BHJ on top. The average power conversion efficiency - of OPVs based on the ternary system is improved from 14.9% to 15.6% by C60 -SAM addition, mostly due to increased current density (Jsc ) and fill factor -. It is found that the C60 -SAM encourages the BHJ to make more face-on molecular orientation because grazing incidence wide-angle X-ray scattering - data show an increased face-on/edge-on orientation ratio in the ternary blend. Light-intensity dependent Jsc data and charge carrier lifetime analysis indicate suppressed bimolecular recombination and a longer charge carrier lifetime in the ternary system, resulting in the enhancement of OPV performance. Moreover, it is demonstrated that device photostability in the ternary blend is enhanced due to the vertically self-assembled C60 -SAM that successfully passivates the ZnO surface and protects BHJ layer from the UV-induced photocatalytic reactions of the ZnO. These results suggest a new perspective to improve both performance and photostability of OPVs using a facial ternary method.
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Affiliation(s)
- Soyeong Jeong
- Department of Chemistry and Centre for Processable Electronics, Imperial College London, White City Campus, London, W12 0BZ, UK
| | - Aniket Rana
- Department of Chemistry and Centre for Processable Electronics, Imperial College London, White City Campus, London, W12 0BZ, UK
| | - Ju-Hyeon Kim
- School of Materials Science and Engineering, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), Gwangju, 61005, Republic of Korea
| | - Deping Qian
- Department of Chemistry and Centre for Processable Electronics, Imperial College London, White City Campus, London, W12 0BZ, UK
| | - Kiyoung Park
- School of Materials Science and Engineering, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), Gwangju, 61005, Republic of Korea
| | - Jun-Ho Jang
- Heeger Center for Advanced Materials (HCAM), Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), Gwangju, 61005, Republic of Korea
| | - Joel Luke
- Department of Physics and Centre for Processable Electronics, Imperial College London, London, SW7 2AZ, UK
| | - Sooncheol Kwon
- Department of Energy and Materials Engineering, Dongguk University, Seoul, 04620, Republic of Korea
| | - Jehan Kim
- Pohang Accelerator Laboratory (PAL), Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Pohang, 37673, Republic of Korea
| | - Pabitra Shakya Tuladhar
- Department of Chemistry and Centre for Processable Electronics, Imperial College London, White City Campus, London, W12 0BZ, UK
| | - Ji-Seon Kim
- Department of Physics and Centre for Processable Electronics, Imperial College London, London, SW7 2AZ, UK
| | - Kwanghee Lee
- School of Materials Science and Engineering, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), Gwangju, 61005, Republic of Korea
- Heeger Center for Advanced Materials (HCAM), Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), Gwangju, 61005, Republic of Korea
- Department of Physics and Centre for Processable Electronics, Imperial College London, London, SW7 2AZ, UK
- Department of Energy and Materials Engineering, Dongguk University, Seoul, 04620, Republic of Korea
- Research Institute for Solar and Sustainable Energies (RISE), Gwangju, 61005, Republic of Korea
| | - James R Durrant
- Department of Chemistry and Centre for Processable Electronics, Imperial College London, White City Campus, London, W12 0BZ, UK
| | - Hongkyu Kang
- Research Institute for Solar and Sustainable Energies (RISE), Gwangju, 61005, Republic of Korea
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2
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Wang Y, Zheng Z, Wang J, Liu X, Ren J, An C, Zhang S, Hou J. New Method for Preparing ZnO Layer for Efficient and Stable Organic Solar Cells. Adv Mater 2023; 35:e2208305. [PMID: 36380719 DOI: 10.1002/adma.202208305] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/09/2022] [Revised: 10/24/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Owing to outstanding optoelectronic properties and simple preparation, zinc oxide (ZnO) has widely been used in organic solar cells (OSCs). Although versatile cathode interface materials have been designed in past, ZnO remains indispensable owing to its excellent overall performance. Therefore, solving the persistent problem of residual amine reacting with non-fullerene acceptors will make ZnO superior over other materials, and thus improve the performance and energy budget of OSCs. Herein, a simple, effective, and economical method for removing residual amine in ZnO without distorting ZnO is reported. By accurately comparing the alkalinities of ZnO and residual amine, boric acid (BA) is selected as the amine-removing agent because of its suitable acidic dissociation constant. Moreover, the high water solubility of BA ensures that the post-cleaning process can be easily performed. The work function, electron extraction, and stability of cathode interface layer are optimized through rinsing them with BA. Consequently, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) and stability of OSCs under long-term illumination are significantly improved. The optimal 0.04 and 1.00 cm2 single-junction OSCs are based on PBDB-TF:HDO-4Cl:BTP-eC9 bulk heterojunction output 18.40% and 17.42% efficiencies, respectively. Furthermore, tandem OSCs based on the BA-treated ZnO exhibit a 19.56% PCE, demonstrating the reliability of this method.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yafei Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, P. R. China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, P. R. China
| | - Zhong Zheng
- State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, P. R. China
- School of Chemistry and Biology Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, P. R. China
| | - Jianqiu Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, P. R. China
| | - Xiaoyu Liu
- School of Chemistry and Biology Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, P. R. China
| | - Junzhen Ren
- State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, P. R. China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, P. R. China
| | - Cunbin An
- State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, P. R. China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, P. R. China
| | - Shaoqing Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, P. R. China
- School of Chemistry and Biology Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, P. R. China
| | - Jianhui Hou
- State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, P. R. China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, P. R. China
- School of Chemistry and Biology Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, P. R. China
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Georgiou E, Ioakeimidis A, Antoniou I, Papadas IT, Hauser A, Rossier M, Linardi F, Choulis SA. Non-Embedded Silver Nanowires/Antimony-Doped Tin Oxide/Polyethylenimine Transparent Electrode for Non-Fullerene Acceptor ITO-Free Inverted Organic Photovoltaics. ACS Appl Electron Mater 2023; 5:181-188. [PMID: 36711043 PMCID: PMC9878715 DOI: 10.1021/acsaelm.2c01187] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2022] [Accepted: 01/03/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Indium tin oxide (ITO)-free solution-processed transparent electrodes are an essential component for the low-cost fabrication of organic optoelectronic devices. High-performance silver nanowires (AgNWs) ITO-free inverted organic photovoltaics (OPVs) usually require a AgNWs-embedded process. A simple cost-effective roll-to-roll production process of inverted ITO-free OPVs with AgNWs as a bottom transparent electrode requires solution-based thick metal oxides as carrier-selective contacts. In this reported study, we show that a solution-processed antimony-doped tin oxide (ATO)/polyethylenimine (PEI) electron-selective contact incorporated on the top of non-embedded AgNWs provides a high-performance ITO-free bottom electrode for non-fullerene acceptor (NFA) inverted OPVs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Efthymios Georgiou
- Molecular
Electronics and Photonics Research Unit, Department of Mechanical
Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering, Cyprus University of Technology, 45 Kitiou Kyprianou Street, Limassol 3603, Cyprus
| | - Apostolos Ioakeimidis
- Molecular
Electronics and Photonics Research Unit, Department of Mechanical
Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering, Cyprus University of Technology, 45 Kitiou Kyprianou Street, Limassol 3603, Cyprus
| | - Ioanna Antoniou
- Molecular
Electronics and Photonics Research Unit, Department of Mechanical
Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering, Cyprus University of Technology, 45 Kitiou Kyprianou Street, Limassol 3603, Cyprus
| | - Ioannis T. Papadas
- Molecular
Electronics and Photonics Research Unit, Department of Mechanical
Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering, Cyprus University of Technology, 45 Kitiou Kyprianou Street, Limassol 3603, Cyprus
- Department
of Public and Community Health, School of Public Health, University of West Attica, Athens 11521, Greece
| | - Alina Hauser
- Avantama
AG, Laubisruetistr. 50, Staefa 8712, Switzerland
| | | | - Flavio Linardi
- Avantama
AG, Laubisruetistr. 50, Staefa 8712, Switzerland
| | - Stelios A. Choulis
- Molecular
Electronics and Photonics Research Unit, Department of Mechanical
Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering, Cyprus University of Technology, 45 Kitiou Kyprianou Street, Limassol 3603, Cyprus
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Moorthy VM, Srivastava VM. Device Modeling of Organic Photovoltaic Cells with Traditional and Inverted Cells Using s-SWCNT:C 60 as Active Layer. Nanomaterials (Basel) 2022; 12:nano12162844. [PMID: 36014708 PMCID: PMC9412363 DOI: 10.3390/nano12162844] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2022] [Revised: 08/09/2022] [Accepted: 08/11/2022] [Indexed: 05/09/2023]
Abstract
This research work presents a thorough analysis of Traditional Organic Solar Cell (TOSC) and novel designed Inverted OSC (IOSC) using Bulk Hetero-Junction (BHJ) structure. Herein, 2D photovoltaic device models were used to observe the results of the semiconducting Single Wall Carbon Nanotube (s-SWCNT):C60-based organic photovoltaic. This work has improved the BHJ photodiodes by varying the active layer thickness. The analysis has been performed at various active layer thicknesses from 50 to 300 nm using the active material s-SWCNT:C60. An analysis with various parameters to determine the most effective parameters for organic photovoltaic performance has been conducted. As a result, it has been established that IOSC has the maximum efficiency of 10.4%, which is higher than the efficiency of TOSC (9.5%). In addition, the active layer with the highest efficacy has been recorded using this material for both TOSC and IOSC Nano Photodiodes (NPDs). Furthermore, the diode structure and geometrical parameters have been optimized and compared to maximize the performance of photodiodes.
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5
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Guo Y, Liu M, Yuan C, Ren Z, Liu Y. Combining Polymer Zwitterions and Zinc Oxide for High Performance Inverted Organic Solar Cells. Macromol Rapid Commun 2022; 43:e2200291. [PMID: 35642107 DOI: 10.1002/marc.202200291] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2022] [Revised: 05/07/2022] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Abstract
Zinc oxide (ZnO) is a widely used cathode interlayer material in inverted organic solar cells (OSCs). However, there are lots of surface or bulk film defects in ZnO layers, which degrades solar cell performance. Here, the typical phosphorylcholine- and sulfobetaine-based polymer zwitterions (PMPC and PDMAPS) were synthesized via reversible addition-fragmentation chain-transfer (RAFT) polymerization to modify ZnO interlayers for inverted OSCs. The polymer zwitterions can efficiently passivate the defects in ZnO films and thus increase the conductivity of the ZnO interlayers. Both PMPC and PDMAPS modified ZnO interlayers show some general advantages on improving the performance of fullerene-based and non-fullerene-based OSCs. A highest efficiency of 16.69% was achieved by using PMPC modified ZnO interlayers in PM6:Y6 based solar cell devices, which is among the best performance in inverted OSCs. Such an improvement on device performance is attribute to the work function reduction of the polymer zwitterions modified ZnO films, which provides an efficient cathode platform to extract and transport electrons from the active layers, to the benefit of suppressing interfacial charge recombination. As a result, the organic-inorganic hybrid composites (ZnO: polymer zwitterions) show efficient interfacial modification to align energy-levels at the device interface, which have promising application prospects in organic electronics. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yanan Guo
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Soft Matter, Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, 100029, China
| | - Ming Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Soft Matter, Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, 100029, China
| | - Chenyuhe Yuan
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Soft Matter, Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, 100029, China
| | - Zhongjie Ren
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Soft Matter, Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, 100029, China
| | - Yao Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Soft Matter, Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, 100029, China
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Kuntamung K, Yaiwong P, Lertvachirapaiboon C, Ishikawa R, Shinbo K, Kato K, Ounnunkad K, Baba A. The effect of gold quantum dots/grating-coupled surface plasmons in inverted organic solar cells. R Soc Open Sci 2021; 8:210022. [PMID: 33959372 PMCID: PMC8074977 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.210022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/19/2021] [Accepted: 03/01/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
We studied the effect of gold quantum dots (AuQDs)/grating-coupled surface plasmon resonance (GC-SPR) in inverted organic solar cells (OSCs). AuQDs are located within a GC-SPR evanescent field in inverted OSCs, indicating an interaction between GC-SPR and AuQDs' quantum effects, subsequently giving rise to improvement in the performance of inverted OSCs. The fabricated solar cell device comprises an ITO/TiO2/P3HT : PCBM/PEDOT : PSS : AuQD/silver grating structure. The AuQDs were loaded into a hole transport layer (PEDOT : PSS) of the inverted OSCs to increase absorption in the near-ultraviolet (UV) light region and to emit visible light into the neighbouring photoactive layer, thereby achieving light-harvesting improvement of the device. The grating structures were fabricated on P3HT:PCBM layers using a nanoimprinting technique to induce GC-SPR within the inverted OSCs. The AuQDs incorporated within the strongly enhanced GC-SPR evanescent electric field on metallic nanostructures in the inverted OSCs improved the short-circuit current and the efficiency of photovoltaic devices. In comparison with the reference OSC and OSCs with only green AuQDs or only metallic grating, the developed device indicates enhancement of up to 16% power conversion efficiency. This indicates that our light management approach allows for greater light utilization of the OSCs because of the synergistic effect of G-AuQDs and GC-SPR.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kulrisa Kuntamung
- Graduate School of Science and Technology, Niigata University, 8050 Ikarashi-2-nocho, Nishi-ku, Niigata 950-2181, Japan
- Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand
| | - Patrawadee Yaiwong
- Graduate School of Science and Technology, Niigata University, 8050 Ikarashi-2-nocho, Nishi-ku, Niigata 950-2181, Japan
- Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand
| | - Chutiparn Lertvachirapaiboon
- Graduate School of Science and Technology, Niigata University, 8050 Ikarashi-2-nocho, Nishi-ku, Niigata 950-2181, Japan
| | - Ryousuke Ishikawa
- Graduate School of Science and Technology, Niigata University, 8050 Ikarashi-2-nocho, Nishi-ku, Niigata 950-2181, Japan
| | - Kazunari Shinbo
- Graduate School of Science and Technology, Niigata University, 8050 Ikarashi-2-nocho, Nishi-ku, Niigata 950-2181, Japan
| | - Keizo Kato
- Graduate School of Science and Technology, Niigata University, 8050 Ikarashi-2-nocho, Nishi-ku, Niigata 950-2181, Japan
| | - Kontad Ounnunkad
- Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand
- Center of Excellence for Innovation in Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand
- Research Center on Chemistry for Development of Health Promoting Products from Northern Resources, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand
- Center of Excellence in Materials Science and Technology, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand
| | - Akira Baba
- Graduate School of Science and Technology, Niigata University, 8050 Ikarashi-2-nocho, Nishi-ku, Niigata 950-2181, Japan
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Lassi E, Squeo BM, Sorrentino R, Scavia G, Mrakic-Sposta S, Gussoni M, Vercelli B, Galeotti F, Pasini M, Luzzati S. Sulfonate-Conjugated Polyelectrolytes as Anode Interfacial Layers in Inverted Organic Solar Cells. Molecules 2021; 26:molecules26030763. [PMID: 33540730 PMCID: PMC7867262 DOI: 10.3390/molecules26030763] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2020] [Revised: 01/19/2021] [Accepted: 01/27/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Conjugated polymers with ionic pendant groups (CPEs) are receiving increasing attention as solution-processed interfacial materials for organic solar cells (OSCs). Various anionic CPEs have been successfully used, on top of ITO (Indium Tin Oxide) electrodes, as solution-processed anode interlayers (AILs) for conventional devices with direct geometry. However, the development of CPE AILs for OSC devices with inverted geometry is an important topic that still needs to be addressed. Here, we have designed three anionic CPEs bearing alkyl-potassium-sulfonate side chains. Their functional behavior as anode interlayers has been investigated in P3HT:PC61BM (poly(3-hexylthiophene): [6,6]-phenyl C61 butyric acid methyl ester) devices with an inverted geometry, using a hole collecting silver electrode evaporated on top. Our results reveal that to obtain effective anode modification, the CPEs' conjugated backbone has to be tailored to grant self-doping and to have a good energy-level match with the photoactive layer. Furthermore, the sulfonate moieties not only ensure the solubility in polar orthogonal solvents, induce self-doping via a right choice of the conjugated backbone, but also play a role in the gaining of hole selectivity of the top silver electrode.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elisa Lassi
- Institute of Chemical Sciences and Technologies “G. Natta ”-SCITEC, National Research Council, CNR-SCITEC, via Corti 12, 20133 Milan, Italy; (E.L.); (B.M.S.); (R.S.); (G.S.); (M.G.); (F.G.)
| | - Benedetta Maria Squeo
- Institute of Chemical Sciences and Technologies “G. Natta ”-SCITEC, National Research Council, CNR-SCITEC, via Corti 12, 20133 Milan, Italy; (E.L.); (B.M.S.); (R.S.); (G.S.); (M.G.); (F.G.)
| | - Roberto Sorrentino
- Institute of Chemical Sciences and Technologies “G. Natta ”-SCITEC, National Research Council, CNR-SCITEC, via Corti 12, 20133 Milan, Italy; (E.L.); (B.M.S.); (R.S.); (G.S.); (M.G.); (F.G.)
| | - Guido Scavia
- Institute of Chemical Sciences and Technologies “G. Natta ”-SCITEC, National Research Council, CNR-SCITEC, via Corti 12, 20133 Milan, Italy; (E.L.); (B.M.S.); (R.S.); (G.S.); (M.G.); (F.G.)
| | - Simona Mrakic-Sposta
- Institute of Clinical Physiology, National Research Council, CNR-IFC, Piazza Ospedale Maggiore 3, 20162 Milan, Italy;
| | - Maristella Gussoni
- Institute of Chemical Sciences and Technologies “G. Natta ”-SCITEC, National Research Council, CNR-SCITEC, via Corti 12, 20133 Milan, Italy; (E.L.); (B.M.S.); (R.S.); (G.S.); (M.G.); (F.G.)
| | - Barbara Vercelli
- Institute of Condensed Matter Chemistry and Technologies for Energy, National Research Council, CNR-ICMATE, Via Roberto Cozzi 53, 20125 Milan, Italy;
| | - Francesco Galeotti
- Institute of Chemical Sciences and Technologies “G. Natta ”-SCITEC, National Research Council, CNR-SCITEC, via Corti 12, 20133 Milan, Italy; (E.L.); (B.M.S.); (R.S.); (G.S.); (M.G.); (F.G.)
| | - Mariacecilia Pasini
- Institute of Chemical Sciences and Technologies “G. Natta ”-SCITEC, National Research Council, CNR-SCITEC, via Corti 12, 20133 Milan, Italy; (E.L.); (B.M.S.); (R.S.); (G.S.); (M.G.); (F.G.)
- Correspondence: (M.P.); (S.L.)
| | - Silvia Luzzati
- Institute of Chemical Sciences and Technologies “G. Natta ”-SCITEC, National Research Council, CNR-SCITEC, via Corti 12, 20133 Milan, Italy; (E.L.); (B.M.S.); (R.S.); (G.S.); (M.G.); (F.G.)
- Correspondence: (M.P.); (S.L.)
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Park JJ, Heo YJ, Yun JM, Kim Y, Yoon SC, Lee SH, Kim DY. Orthogonal Printable Reduced Graphene Oxide 2D Materials as Hole Transport Layers for High-Performance Inverted Polymer Solar Cells: Sheet Size Effect on Photovoltaic Properties. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 2020; 12:42811-42820. [PMID: 32799529 DOI: 10.1021/acsami.0c11384] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Creating an orthogonal printable hole-transporting layer (HTL) without damaging the underlying layer is still a major challenge in fabricating large-area printed inverted polymer solar cells (PSCs). In this study, we prepared orthogonal-processable fluorine-functionalized reduced graphene oxide (FrGO) series with various two-dimensional sheet sizes such as large-sized FrGO (1.1 μm), medium-sized FrGO (0.7 μm), and small-sized FrGO (0.3 μm) and systematically investigated the size effect of FrGOs on the hole transport properties of PSCs. The FrGOs exhibit highly stable dispersion without change over 90 days in 2-propanol solvent, indicating very high dispersion stability. Decreasing the sheet size of FrGOs enhanced hole-transporting properties, resulting in power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of 9.27 and 9.02% for PTB7-Th:EH-IDTBR- and PTB7-Th:PC71BM-based PSCs, respectively. Compared to devices with solution-processed poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS), a 14% enhancement of PCEs was achieved. Interestingly, the PCEs of devices with the smallest FrGO sheet are higher than the PCE of 8.77% of a device with vacuum-deposited MoO3. The enhancement in the performance of PSCs is attributed to the enhanced charge collection efficiency, decreased leakage current, internal resistance, and minimized charge recombination. Finally, small-sized FrGO HTLs were successfully coated on the photoactive layer using the spray coating method, and they also exhibited PCEs of 9.22 and 13.26% for PTB7-Th:EH-IDTBR- and PM6:Y6-based inverted PSCs, respectively.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jong-Jin Park
- Heeger Center for Advanced Materials (HCAM), School of Materials Science and Engineering (SMSE), Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), Gwangju 61005, Republic of Korea
| | - Youn-Jung Heo
- Heeger Center for Advanced Materials (HCAM), School of Materials Science and Engineering (SMSE), Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), Gwangju 61005, Republic of Korea
- Research Institute of Sustainable Manufacturing Systems, Korea Institute of Industrial Technology (KITECH), Cheonan 31056, Republic of Korea
| | - Jin-Mun Yun
- Radiation Utilization and Facilities Management Division, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI), Jeongeup 562121, Republic of Korea
| | - Yunseul Kim
- Heeger Center for Advanced Materials (HCAM), School of Materials Science and Engineering (SMSE), Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), Gwangju 61005, Republic of Korea
| | - Sung Cheol Yoon
- Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT), Daejeon 34114, Republic of Korea
| | - Seung-Hoon Lee
- Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT), Daejeon 34114, Republic of Korea
| | - Dong-Yu Kim
- Heeger Center for Advanced Materials (HCAM), School of Materials Science and Engineering (SMSE), Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), Gwangju 61005, Republic of Korea
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Ambade SB, Ambade RB, Bagde SS, Eom SH, Mane RS, Shin WS, Lee SH. Low-Temperature Solution-Processed Thiophene-Sulfur-Doped Planar ZnO Nanorods as Electron-Transporting Layers for Enhanced Performance of Organic Solar Cells. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 2017; 9:3831-3841. [PMID: 28029030 DOI: 10.1021/acsami.6b10843] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
1-D ZnO represents a fascinating class of nanostructures that are significant to optoelectronics. In this work, we investigated the use of an eco-friendly, metal free in situ doping through a pure thiophene-sulfur (S) on low temperature processed (<95 °C) and annealed (<170 °C), planar 1-D ZnO nanorods (ZnRs) spin-coated as a hole-blocking and electron transporting layer (ETL) for inverted organic solar cells (iOSCs). The TEM, HRTEM, XPS, FT-IR, EDS and Raman studies clearly reveal that the thiophene-S (Thi-S) atom is incorporated on planar ZnRs. The investigations in electrical properties suggest the enhancement in conductivity after Thi-S doping on 1-D ZnRs. The iOSCs of poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) and phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (P3HT: PC60BM) photoactive layer containing thiophene-S doped planar ZnRs (Thi-S-PZnRs) as ETL exhibits power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 3.68% under simulated AM 1.5 G, 100 mW cm-2 illumination. The ∼47% enhancement in PCE compared with pristine planar ZnRs (PCE = 2.38%) ETL is attributed to a combination of desirable energy level alignment, morphological modification, increased conductivity and doping effect. The universality of Thi-S-PZnRs ETL is demonstrated by the highest PCE of 8.15% in contrast to 6.50% exhibited by the iOSCs of ZnRs ETL for the photoactive layer comprising of poly[4,8-bis(5-(2-ethylhexyl)thiophene-2-yl)benzo[1,2-b;4,5-b]dithiophene-2,6-diyl-alt-(4-(2-ethylhexyl)-3-fluorothieno[3,4-b]thiophene-)-2-carboxylate-2-6-diyl)]: phenyl-C71-butyric acid methyl ester (PTB7-Th: PCB71M). This enhancement in PCE is observed to be driven mainly through improved photovoltaic parameters like fill factor (ff) as well as photocurrent density (Jsc), which are assigned to increased conductivity, exciton dissociation, and effective charge extraction, while; better ohmic contact, reduced charge recombination, and low leakage current density resulted in increased Voc.
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Affiliation(s)
- Swapnil B Ambade
- School of Semiconductor and Chemical Engineering, Chonbuk National University , 567 Baekje-daero, Jeonju, 54896, Republic of Korea
| | - Rohan B Ambade
- School of Semiconductor and Chemical Engineering, Chonbuk National University , 567 Baekje-daero, Jeonju, 54896, Republic of Korea
| | - Sushil S Bagde
- School of Semiconductor and Chemical Engineering, Chonbuk National University , 567 Baekje-daero, Jeonju, 54896, Republic of Korea
| | - Seung Hun Eom
- School of Semiconductor and Chemical Engineering, Chonbuk National University , 567 Baekje-daero, Jeonju, 54896, Republic of Korea
- Division of Advanced Materials, Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT) , 141 Gajeong-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34114, Republic of Korea
| | - Rajaram S Mane
- Centre for Nanomaterials & Energy Devices, School of Physical Sciences, SRTM, University , 431606, Nanded, India
| | - Won Suk Shin
- Energy Materials Research Centre, Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology , Daejeon, Korea
| | - Soo-Hyoung Lee
- School of Semiconductor and Chemical Engineering, Chonbuk National University , 567 Baekje-daero, Jeonju, 54896, Republic of Korea
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Tran VH, Ambade RB, Ambade SB, Lee SH, Lee IH. Low-Temperature Solution-Processed SnO 2 Nanoparticles as a Cathode Buffer Layer for Inverted Organic Solar Cells. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 2017; 9:1645-1653. [PMID: 27982562 DOI: 10.1021/acsami.6b10857] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
SnO2 recently has attracted particular attention as a powerful buffer layer for organic optoelectronic devices due to its outstanding properties such as high electron mobility, suitable band alignment, and high optical transparency. Here, we report on facile low-temperature solution-processed SnO2 nanoparticles (NPs) in applications for a cathode buffer layer (CBL) of inverted organic solar cells (iOSCs). The conduction band energy of SnO2 NPs estimated by ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy was 4.01 eV, a salient feature that is necessary for an appropriate CBL. Using SnO2 NPs as CBL derived from a 0.1 M precursor concentration, P3HT:PC60BM-based iOSCs showed the best power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 2.9%. The iOSC devices using SnO2 NPs as CBL revealed excellent long-term device stabilities, and the PCE was retained at ∼95% of its initial value after 10 weeks in ambient air. These solution-processed SnO2 NPs are considered to be suitable for the low-cost, high throughput roll-to-roll process on a flexible substrate for optoelectronic devices.
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Affiliation(s)
- Van-Huong Tran
- School of Advanced Materials Engineering and Research Center of Advanced Materials Development, Chonbuk National University , 567 Baekje-daero, Deokjin-gu, Jeonju-si, Jeollabuk-do 54896, Republic of Korea
- School of Semiconductor and Chemical Engineering, Chonbuk National University , 567 Baekje-daero, Deokjin-gu, Jeonju-si, Jeollabuk-do 54896, Republic of Korea
| | - Rohan B Ambade
- School of Semiconductor and Chemical Engineering, Chonbuk National University , 567 Baekje-daero, Deokjin-gu, Jeonju-si, Jeollabuk-do 54896, Republic of Korea
| | - Swapnil B Ambade
- School of Semiconductor and Chemical Engineering, Chonbuk National University , 567 Baekje-daero, Deokjin-gu, Jeonju-si, Jeollabuk-do 54896, Republic of Korea
| | - Soo-Hyoung Lee
- School of Semiconductor and Chemical Engineering, Chonbuk National University , 567 Baekje-daero, Deokjin-gu, Jeonju-si, Jeollabuk-do 54896, Republic of Korea
| | - In-Hwan Lee
- School of Advanced Materials Engineering and Research Center of Advanced Materials Development, Chonbuk National University , 567 Baekje-daero, Deokjin-gu, Jeonju-si, Jeollabuk-do 54896, Republic of Korea
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Xu W, Yan C, Kan Z, Wang Y, Lai WY, Huang W. High Efficiency Inverted Organic Solar Cells with a Neutral Fulleropyrrolidine Electron-Collecting Interlayer. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 2016; 8:14293-14300. [PMID: 27197741 DOI: 10.1021/acsami.6b03974] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
Abstract
A novel fulleropyrrolidine derivative, named FPNOH, was designed, synthesized, and utilized as an efficient electron-collecting (EC) layer for inverted organic solar cells (i-OSCs). The grafted diethanolamino-polar moieties can not only trigger its function as an EC interlayer, but also induce orthogonal solubility that guarantees subsequent multilayer processing without interfacial mixing. A higher power conversion efficiency (PCE) value of 8.34% was achieved for i-OSC devices with ITO/FPNOH EC electrode, compared to that of the sol-gel ZnO based reference devices with an optimized PCE value of 7.92%. High efficiency exceeding 7.7% was still achieved even for the devices with a relatively thick FPNOH film (16.9 nm). It is worthwhile to mention that this kind of material exhibits less thickness dependent performance, in contrast to widely utilized p-type conjugated polyelectrolytes (CPEs) as well as the nonconjugated polyelectrolytes (NCPEs). Further investigation on illuminating intensity dependent parameters revealed the role of FPNOH in reducing interfacial trap-induced recombination at the ITO/active layer interface.
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Affiliation(s)
- Weidong Xu
- Key Laboratory for Organic Electronics and Information Displays (KLOEID) & Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM), Jiangsu National Synergetic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials (SICAM), Nanjing University of Posts & Telecommunications , 9 Wenyuan Road, Nanjing 210023, China
| | - Congfei Yan
- Key Laboratory for Organic Electronics and Information Displays (KLOEID) & Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM), Jiangsu National Synergetic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials (SICAM), Nanjing University of Posts & Telecommunications , 9 Wenyuan Road, Nanjing 210023, China
| | - Zhipeng Kan
- Physical Sciences and Engineering Division, Solar & Photovoltaic Engineering Research Center (SPERC), King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) , Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia
| | - Yang Wang
- Key Laboratory for Organic Electronics and Information Displays (KLOEID) & Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM), Jiangsu National Synergetic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials (SICAM), Nanjing University of Posts & Telecommunications , 9 Wenyuan Road, Nanjing 210023, China
| | - Wen-Yong Lai
- Key Laboratory for Organic Electronics and Information Displays (KLOEID) & Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM), Jiangsu National Synergetic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials (SICAM), Nanjing University of Posts & Telecommunications , 9 Wenyuan Road, Nanjing 210023, China
- Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronics (KLOFE) & Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM), Jiangsu National Synergetic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials (SICAM), Nanjing Tech University (NanjingTech) , 30 South Puzhu Road, Nanjing 211816, China
| | - Wei Huang
- Key Laboratory for Organic Electronics and Information Displays (KLOEID) & Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM), Jiangsu National Synergetic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials (SICAM), Nanjing University of Posts & Telecommunications , 9 Wenyuan Road, Nanjing 210023, China
- Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronics (KLOFE) & Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM), Jiangsu National Synergetic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials (SICAM), Nanjing Tech University (NanjingTech) , 30 South Puzhu Road, Nanjing 211816, China
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Jaramillo J, Boudouris BW, Barrero CA, Jaramillo F. Design of Super-Paramagnetic Core-Shell Nanoparticles for Enhanced Performance of Inverted Polymer Solar Cells. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 2015; 7:25061-25068. [PMID: 26506008 DOI: 10.1021/acsami.5b09686] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
Abstract
Controlling the nature and transfer of excited states in organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices is of critical concern due to the fact that exciton transport and separation can dictate the final performance of the system. One effective method to accomplish improved charge separation in organic electronic materials is to control the spin state of the photogenerated charge-carrying species. To this end, nanoparticles with unique iron oxide (Fe3O4) cores and zinc oxide (ZnO) shells were synthesized in a controlled manner. Then, the structural and magnetic properties of these core-shell nanoparticles (Fe3O4@ZnO) were tuned to ensure superior performance when they were incorporated into the active layers of OPV devices. Specifically, small loadings of the core-shell nanoparticles were blended with the previously well-characterized OPV active layer of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM). Upon addition of the core-shell nanoparticles, the performance of the OPV devices was increased up to 25% relative to P3HT-PCBM active layer devices that contained no nanoparticles; this increase was a direct result of an increase in the short-circuit current densities of the devices. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that the increase in photocurrent was not due to enhanced absorption of the active layer due to the presence of the Fe3O4@ZnO core-shell nanoparticles. In fact, this increase in device performance occurred because of the presence of the superparamagnetic Fe3O4 in the core of the nanoparticles as incorporation of ZnO only nanoparticles did not alter the device performance. Importantly, however, the ZnO shell of the nanoparticles mitigated the negative optical effect of Fe3O4, which have been observed previously. This allowed the core-shell nanoparticles to outperform bare Fe3O4 nanoparticles when the single-layer nanoparticles were incorporated into the active layer of OPV devices. As such, the new materials described here present a tangible pathway toward the development of enhanced design schemes for inorganic nanoparticles such that magnetic and energy control pathways can be tailored for flexible electronic applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Johny Jaramillo
- Grupo de Estado Sólido, Sede de Investigación Universitaria, Universidad de Antioquia (U de A) , A. A. 1226, Calle 70 No 52-21, Medellín, Colombia
- Centro de Investigación, Innovación y Desarrollo de Materiales-CIDEMAT, Universidad de Antioquia (U de A) , Calle 70 No 52-21, Medellín, Colombia
| | - Bryan W Boudouris
- School of Chemical Engineering, Purdue University , 480 Stadium Mall Drive, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, United States
| | - César A Barrero
- Grupo de Estado Sólido, Sede de Investigación Universitaria, Universidad de Antioquia (U de A) , A. A. 1226, Calle 70 No 52-21, Medellín, Colombia
| | - Franklin Jaramillo
- Centro de Investigación, Innovación y Desarrollo de Materiales-CIDEMAT, Universidad de Antioquia (U de A) , Calle 70 No 52-21, Medellín, Colombia
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Li L, Xiao L, Qin H, Gao K, Peng J, Cao Y, Liu F, Russell TP, Peng X. High-Efficiency Small Molecule-Based Bulk-Heterojunction Solar Cells Enhanced by Additive Annealing. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 2015; 7:21495-21502. [PMID: 26355348 DOI: 10.1021/acsami.5b06691] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
Abstract
Solvent additive processing is important in optimizing an active layer's morphology and thus improving the performance of organic solar cells (OSCs). In this study, we find that how 1,8-diiodooctane (DIO) additive is removed plays a critical role in determining the film morphology of the bulk heterojunction OSCs in inverted structure based on a porphyrin small molecule. Different from the cases reported for polymer-based OSCs in conventional structures, the inverted OSCs upon the quick removal of the additive either by quick vacuuming or methanol washing exhibit poorer performance. In contrast, the devices after keeping the active layers in ambient pressure with additive dwelling for about 1 h (namely, additive annealing) show an enhanced power conversion efficiency up to 7.78% with a large short circuit current of 19.25 mA/cm(2), which are among the best in small molecule-based solar cells. The detailed morphology analyses using UV-vis absorption spectroscopy, grazing incidence X-ray diffraction, resonant soft X-ray scattering, and atomic force microscopy demonstrate that the active layer shows smaller-sized phase separation but improved structure order upon additive annealing. On the contrary, the quick removal of the additive either by quick vacuuming or methanol washing keeps the active layers in an earlier stage of large scaled phase separation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lisheng Li
- Institute of Polymer Optoelectronic Materials and Devices, State Key Laboratory of Luminescent Materials and Devices, South China University of Technology , 381 Wushan Road, Guangzhou 510640, China
| | - Liangang Xiao
- Institute of Polymer Optoelectronic Materials and Devices, State Key Laboratory of Luminescent Materials and Devices, South China University of Technology , 381 Wushan Road, Guangzhou 510640, China
| | - Hongmei Qin
- Institute of Polymer Optoelectronic Materials and Devices, State Key Laboratory of Luminescent Materials and Devices, South China University of Technology , 381 Wushan Road, Guangzhou 510640, China
| | - Ke Gao
- Institute of Polymer Optoelectronic Materials and Devices, State Key Laboratory of Luminescent Materials and Devices, South China University of Technology , 381 Wushan Road, Guangzhou 510640, China
| | - Junbiao Peng
- Institute of Polymer Optoelectronic Materials and Devices, State Key Laboratory of Luminescent Materials and Devices, South China University of Technology , 381 Wushan Road, Guangzhou 510640, China
| | - Yong Cao
- Institute of Polymer Optoelectronic Materials and Devices, State Key Laboratory of Luminescent Materials and Devices, South China University of Technology , 381 Wushan Road, Guangzhou 510640, China
| | - Feng Liu
- Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , Berkeley, California 94720, United States
| | - Thomas P Russell
- Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , Berkeley, California 94720, United States
| | - Xiaobin Peng
- Institute of Polymer Optoelectronic Materials and Devices, State Key Laboratory of Luminescent Materials and Devices, South China University of Technology , 381 Wushan Road, Guangzhou 510640, China
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Gupta SK, Jindal R, Garg A. Microscopic Investigations into the Effect of Surface Treatment of Cathode and Electron Transport Layer on the Performance of Inverted Organic Solar Cells. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 2015; 7:16418-16427. [PMID: 26158508 DOI: 10.1021/acsami.5b03583] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
Surface treatments of various layers in organic solar cells play a vital role in determining device characteristics. In this manuscript, we report on the influence of surface treatment of indium tin oxide (ITO) electrode and electron transport layer (ETL), ZnO, on the photovoltaic performance of inverted organic solar cells (IOSC) and their correlation with the surface chemistry and surface potential as studied using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM), using the device structure glass/ITO/ZnO/P3HT: PCBM/MoO3/(Au or Ag) (P3HT, poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl), and PCBM, phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester). Our results show that although ozonization of ITO leads to an improvement in the device power conversion efficiency, the ozonization of a subsequent ZnO layer results in a decreased performance mainly because of a decrease in the fill factor (FF). However, subsequent methanol (CH3OH) treatment of ZnO layer on an ozonized ITO electrode shows substantial improvement with device efficiencies exceeding ∼4% along with superior reproducibility of the devices. Furthermore, a detailed analysis of the surface wettability, chemistry, and surface potential using contact angle measurements, XPS, and KPFM attribute the improvements to the elimination of surface defects and the changes in the surface potential. Finally, impedance analysis suggests that methanol treatment of the ZnO layers leads to the development of a favorable nanophase structure with higher conductivity, which is otherwise indiscernible using microscopic methods.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shailendra Kumar Gupta
- †Department of Materials Science and Engineering and ‡Samtel Center for Display Technologies, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur 208016, India
| | - Rajeev Jindal
- †Department of Materials Science and Engineering and ‡Samtel Center for Display Technologies, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur 208016, India
| | - Ashish Garg
- †Department of Materials Science and Engineering and ‡Samtel Center for Display Technologies, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur 208016, India
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Lee BR, Lee S, Park JH, Jung ED, Yu JC, Nam YS, Heo J, Kim JY, Kim BS, Song MH. Amine-Based Interfacial Molecules for Inverted Polymer-Based Optoelectronic Devices. Adv Mater 2015; 27:3553-3559. [PMID: 25946427 DOI: 10.1002/adma.201500663] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/07/2015] [Revised: 04/12/2015] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
The change in the work function (WF) of ZnO with amine-based interfacial mole-cules (AIM) can be controlled by the number of amine groups. AIM with a larger amine group can induce a stronger interface dipole between the amine groups and the ZnO surface, leading to a greater reduction of the WF.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bo Ram Lee
- Depart of Materials Science and Engineering and KIST-UNIST Ulsan Center for Convergent Materials, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), UNIST-gil 50, Ulsan, 689-798, South Korea
| | - Seungjin Lee
- Depart of Materials Science and Engineering and KIST-UNIST Ulsan Center for Convergent Materials, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), UNIST-gil 50, Ulsan, 689-798, South Korea
| | - Jong Hyun Park
- Depart of Materials Science and Engineering and KIST-UNIST Ulsan Center for Convergent Materials, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), UNIST-gil 50, Ulsan, 689-798, South Korea
| | - Eui Dae Jung
- Depart of Materials Science and Engineering and KIST-UNIST Ulsan Center for Convergent Materials, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), UNIST-gil 50, Ulsan, 689-798, South Korea
| | - Jae Choul Yu
- Depart of Materials Science and Engineering and KIST-UNIST Ulsan Center for Convergent Materials, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), UNIST-gil 50, Ulsan, 689-798, South Korea
| | - Yun Seok Nam
- Depart of Materials Science and Engineering and KIST-UNIST Ulsan Center for Convergent Materials, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), UNIST-gil 50, Ulsan, 689-798, South Korea
| | - Jinhee Heo
- Korea Institute of Materials Science (KIMS), #797 Changwondaero, Changwon, Gyeongnam, 641-831, South Korea
| | - Ju-Young Kim
- Depart of Materials Science and Engineering and KIST-UNIST Ulsan Center for Convergent Materials, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), UNIST-gil 50, Ulsan, 689-798, South Korea
| | - Byeong-Su Kim
- Department of Chemistry and Department of Energy Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), UNIST-gil 50, Ulsan, 689-798, South Korea
| | - Myoung Hoon Song
- Depart of Materials Science and Engineering and KIST-UNIST Ulsan Center for Convergent Materials, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), UNIST-gil 50, Ulsan, 689-798, South Korea
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Ambade RB, Ambade SB, Mane RS, Lee SH. Interfacial Engineering Importance of Bilayered ZnO Cathode Buffer on the Photovoltaic Performance of Inverted Organic Solar Cells. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 2015; 7:7951-7960. [PMID: 25804557 DOI: 10.1021/am509125c] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
The role of cathode buffer layer (CBL) is crucial in determining the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of inverted organic solar cells (IOSCs). The hallmarks of a promising CBL include high transparency, ideal energy levels, and tendency to offer good interfacial contact with the organic bulk-heterojunction (BHJ) layers. Zinc oxide (ZnO), with its ability to form numerous morphologies in juxtaposition to its excellent electron affinity, solution processability, and good transparency is an ideal CBL material for IOSCs. Technically, when CBL is sandwiched between the BHJ active layer and the indium-tin-oxide (ITO) cathode, it performs two functions, namely, electron collection from the photoactive layer that is effectively carried out by morphologies like nanoparticles or nanoridges obtained by ZnO sol-gel (ZnO SG) method through an accumulation of individual nanoparticles and, second, transport of collected electrons toward the cathode, which is more effectively manifested by one-dimensional (1D) nanostructures like ZnO nanorods (ZnO NRs). This work presents the use of bilayered ZnO CBL in IOSCs of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT)/[6, 6]-phenyl-C60-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) to overcome the limitations offered by a conventionally used single layer CBL. We found that the PCE of IOSCs with an appropriate bilayer CBL comprising of ZnO NRs/ZnO SG is ∼18.21% higher than those containing ZnO SG/ZnO NRs. We believe that, in bilayer ZnO NRs/ZnO SG, ZnO SG collects electrons effectively from photoactive layer while ZnO NRs transport them further to ITO resulting significant increase in the photocurrent to achieve highest PCE of 3.70%. The enhancement in performance was obtained through improved interfacial engineering, enhanced electrical properties, and reduced surface/bulk defects in bilayer ZnO NRs/ZnO SG. This study demonstrates that the novel bilayer ZnO CBL approach of electron collection/transport would overcome crucial interfacial recombination issues and contribute in enhancing PCE of IOSCs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rohan B Ambade
- †School of Semiconductor and Chemical Engineering, Chonbuk National University, 664-14, 1-ga Deokjin-dong, Deokjin-gu, Jeonju, Jeonbuk 561-756, Republic of Korea
| | - Swapnil B Ambade
- †School of Semiconductor and Chemical Engineering, Chonbuk National University, 664-14, 1-ga Deokjin-dong, Deokjin-gu, Jeonju, Jeonbuk 561-756, Republic of Korea
| | - Rajaram S Mane
- ‡Center for Nanomaterials and Energy Devices, Swami Ramanand Teerth Marathwada University, Dnyanteerth, Vishnupuri, Nanded, 431606, India
| | - Soo-Hyoung Lee
- †School of Semiconductor and Chemical Engineering, Chonbuk National University, 664-14, 1-ga Deokjin-dong, Deokjin-gu, Jeonju, Jeonbuk 561-756, Republic of Korea
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Li P, Jiu T, Tang G, Wang G, Li J, Li X, Fang J. Solvents induced ZnO nanoparticles aggregation associated with their interfacial effect on organic solar cells. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 2014; 6:18172-18179. [PMID: 25269149 DOI: 10.1021/am5051789] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/03/2023]
Abstract
ZnO nanofilm as a cathode buffer layer has surface defects due to the aggregations of ZnO nanoparticles, leading to poor device performance of organic solar cells. In this paper, we report the ZnO nanoparticles aggregations in solution can be controlled by adjusting the solvents ratios (chloroform vs methanol). These aggregations could influence the morphology of ZnO film. Therefore, compact and homogeneous ZnO film can be obtained to help achieve a preferable power conversion efficiency of 8.54% in inverted organic solar cells. This improvement is attributed to the decreased leakage current and the increased electron-collecting efficiency as well as the improved interface contact with the active layer. In addition, we find the enhanced maximum exciton generation rate and exciton dissociation probability lead to the improvement of device performance due to the preferable ZnO dispersion. Compared to other methods of ZnO nanofilm fabrication, it is the more convenient, moderate, and effective to get a preferable ZnO buffer layer for high-efficiency organic solar cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pandeng Li
- Institute of New Energy Technology, Ningbo Institute of Material Technology and Engineering (NIMTE), Chinese Academy of Science (CAS) , Ningbo, Zhejiang 315201, People's Republic of China
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Lee KH, Kumar B, Park HJ, Kim SW. Optimization of an Electron Transport Layer to Enhance the Power Conversion Efficiency of Flexible Inverted Organic Solar Cells. Nanoscale Res Lett 2010; 5:1908-12. [PMID: 21170411 PMCID: PMC2991231 DOI: 10.1007/s11671-010-9769-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2010] [Accepted: 08/17/2010] [Indexed: 05/26/2023]
Abstract
The photovoltaic (PV) performance of flexible inverted organic solar cells (IOSCs) with an active layer consisting of a blend of poly(3-hexylthiophene) and [6, 6]-phenyl C(61)-butlyric acid methyl ester was investigated by varying the thicknesses of ZnO seed layers and introducing ZnO nanorods (NRs). A ZnO seed layer or ZnO NRs grown on the seed layer were used as an electron transport layer and pathway to optimize PV performance. ZnO seed layers were deposited using spin coating at 3,000 rpm for 30 s onto indium tin oxide (ITO)-coated polyethersulphone (PES) substrates. The ZnO NRs were grown using an aqueous solution method at a low temperature (90°C). The optimized device with ZnO NRs exhibited a threefold increase in PV performance compared with that of a device consisting of a ZnO seed layer without ZnO NRs. Flexible IOSCs fabricated using ZnO NRs with improved PV performance may pave the way for the development of PV devices with larger interface areas for effective exciton dissociation and continuous carrier transport paths.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kang Hyuck Lee
- School of Advanced Materials Science and Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, 440-746, Republic of Korea
| | - Brijesh Kumar
- School of Advanced Materials Science and Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, 440-746, Republic of Korea
| | - Hye-Jeong Park
- School of Advanced Materials Science and Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, 440-746, Republic of Korea
| | - Sang-Woo Kim
- School of Advanced Materials Science and Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, 440-746, Republic of Korea
- SKKU Advanced Institute of Nanotechnology (SAINT) and Center for Human Interface Nanotechnology (HINT), Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, 440-746, Republic of Korea
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