TY - JOUR
T1 - Highly crystalline bilayer electron transport layer for efficient conjugated polymer solar cells
AU - Xu, Cheng
AU - Wright, Matthew
AU - Elumalai, Naveen Kumar
AU - Mahmud, Md Arafat
AU - Wang, Dian
AU - Upama, Mushfika Baishakhi
AU - Haque, Faiazul
AU - Uddin, Ashraf
PY - 2018/5
Y1 - 2018/5
N2 - Solution processed solar cells are a promising renewable energy technology due to the low fabrication costs. The most commonly used electron transport layer for solution processed organic solar cells is ZnO. However, sol-gel derived ZnO is amorphous, which limits interfacial charge transport. In this study, we demonstrate a ZnO bilayer, composed of a nanoparticle ZnO and sol-gel derived ZnO layer, as the electron transport layer in polymer solar cells incorporating the novel polymer poly [(5,6-difluoro-2,1,3-benzothiadiazol-4,7-diyl)-alt-(3,3‴-di (2-octyldodecyl)-2,2′; 5′,2″; 5″,2‴-quaterthiophen-5,5‴-diyl)] (PffBT4T-2OD). Compared with the single layer sol-gel ZnO, the bilayer displayed enhanced crystallinity. Consequently, the interfacial transport from the active layer was improved, as evidenced by dark J-V and PL spectroscopy measurements. Solar cells incorporating this bilayer ZnO layer achieved PCE values exceeding 10%, a relative improvement of 25% compared to the sol-gel ZnO devices.
AB - Solution processed solar cells are a promising renewable energy technology due to the low fabrication costs. The most commonly used electron transport layer for solution processed organic solar cells is ZnO. However, sol-gel derived ZnO is amorphous, which limits interfacial charge transport. In this study, we demonstrate a ZnO bilayer, composed of a nanoparticle ZnO and sol-gel derived ZnO layer, as the electron transport layer in polymer solar cells incorporating the novel polymer poly [(5,6-difluoro-2,1,3-benzothiadiazol-4,7-diyl)-alt-(3,3‴-di (2-octyldodecyl)-2,2′; 5′,2″; 5″,2‴-quaterthiophen-5,5‴-diyl)] (PffBT4T-2OD). Compared with the single layer sol-gel ZnO, the bilayer displayed enhanced crystallinity. Consequently, the interfacial transport from the active layer was improved, as evidenced by dark J-V and PL spectroscopy measurements. Solar cells incorporating this bilayer ZnO layer achieved PCE values exceeding 10%, a relative improvement of 25% compared to the sol-gel ZnO devices.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85042692815&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.cap.2018.02.012
DO - 10.1016/j.cap.2018.02.012
M3 - Article
VL - 18
SP - 505
EP - 511
JO - Current Applied Physics
JF - Current Applied Physics
SN - 1567-1739
IS - 5
ER -