Critical role of the external bias in improving the performance of polymer solar cells with a small molecule electrolyte interlayer

Abstract

A small-molecule electrolyte based on the popular ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA-N) is introduced as an efficient cathode interlayer in inverted polymer solar cells, helping to deliver power conversion efficiency over 9%. The strong dependence of device performance on the external bias suggests that the ion motion plays a critical role in improving the performance of devices with electrolyte interlayers.