Issue 16, 2018

Synergy of a titanium chelate electron collection layer and a vertical phase separated photoactive layer for efficient inverted polymer solar cells

Abstract

Both interfacial and photoactive layers play crucial roles in efficient polymer solar cells (PSCs). Herein, inverted PSCs with a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 10.23% are achieved via the conjunct effect of a titanium(IV) oxide bis(2,4-pentanedionate) (TOPD) electron collection layer and a perpendicular phase separated PBDB-T:ITIC-M photoactive layer. Careful studies on the energy level and optical and morphological properties of TOPD elucidate its outstanding electron-collecting and hole-blocking function besides its highly transparent properties. Atomic force microscopy (AFM), water contact angle (WCA) measurements and time-of-flight secondary-ion mass spectroscopy (TOF-SIMS) jointly verify the vertical phase separated PBDB-T:ITIC-M photoactive layer and further present the concentration distribution of the donor and acceptor in the blend film, which ensures effective exciton dissociation and simultaneously offers independent pathways for charge transportation. The combination of their virtues facilitates the high enhancement of open circuit voltage (Voc) up to 0.21 V besides the increased short circuit density (Jsc) of 1.9 mA cm−2, leading to an encouraging PCE enhancement from 4.59% to 10.23% exceeding the traditional BHJ-PSCs with a PCE of 9.08%. Therefore, we may conclude that TOPD is a suitable electron collection layer to synergize with the vertical composition profile of photoactive blends for high performance i-PSCs.

Graphical abstract: Synergy of a titanium chelate electron collection layer and a vertical phase separated photoactive layer for efficient inverted polymer solar cells

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
11 Feb 2018
Accepted
16 Mar 2018
First published
17 Mar 2018

J. Mater. Chem. A, 2018,6, 7257-7264

Synergy of a titanium chelate electron collection layer and a vertical phase separated photoactive layer for efficient inverted polymer solar cells

Y. Bai, B. Yang, C. Zhao, Z. Shi, T. Hayat, A. Alsaedi and Z. Tan, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2018, 6, 7257 DOI: 10.1039/C8TA01486H

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements