Poly(4-vinylpyridine): A New Interface Layer for Organic Solar Cells
Journal article, 2017

Poly(4-vinylpyridine) (P4VP) was used as a cathode interface layer in inverted organic solar cells (OSCs) fabricated using poly[2,3-bis(3-octyloxypbeny)quinoxaline-5,8-diyl-att-thiophene2,5-diyl] (TQ1) and PC71BM (phenyl C-71, butyric acid methyl ester) as the donor and acceptor materials, respectively. We successfully demonstrate that the work function of underlying indium tin oxide (ITO) electrode can be significantly reduced by,similar to 0.7 eV) after modification of the surface with a thin film of P4VP. Photoconversion efficiency of 4.7% was achieved from OSCs incorporating P4VP interface layer between the ITO and bulk heterojunction (BHJ). Thin P4VP layer, when used to modify ZnO electron transport layer in inverted OSCs, reduced the ZnO work function from 3.7 to 3.4 eV, which resulted in a noteworthy increase in open-circuit voltage from 840 to 890 mV. On simultaneous modification of ZnO with P4VP and optimization of the BHJ morphology by using solvent additive chloronapthalene, photoconversion efficiency of OSCs was significantly increased from 4.6% to 6,3%. The enhanced device parameters are also attributed to an energetically favorable material stratification, as a result of an enrichment of PC71BM toward the P4VP interface.

EFFICIENCY

ZNO

morphology

FULLERENE

PERFORMANCE

PHOTOVOLTAICS

ENHANCEMENT

BLOCK-COPOLYMERS

MODIFIED CATHODE

inverted OSCs

work function

POLYMER

ENERGY-LEVEL ALIGNMENT

pyridine

cathode interface layer

Author

A. Sharma

University of South Australia

Renee Kroon

Chalmers, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Applied Chemistry

D. A. Lewis

Flinders University

G. Andersson

Flinders University

Mats Andersson

University of South Australia

ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces

1944-8244 (ISSN) 1944-8252 (eISSN)

Vol. 9 12 10929-10936

Subject Categories

Polymer Technologies

DOI

10.1021/acsami.6b12687

More information

Created

10/7/2017