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Ether chain functionalized fullerene derivatives as cathode interface materials for efficient organic solar cells

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Abstract

The electron transport layer (ETL) plays a crucial role on the electron injection and extraction, resulting in balanced charge transporting and reducing the interfacial energy barrier. The interface compatibility and electrical contact via employing appropriate buffer layer at the surface of hydrophobic organic active layer and hydrophilic inorganic electrode are also essential for charge collections. Herein, an ether chain functionalized fullerene derivatives [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyricacid-(3,5-bis(2-(2-ethoxyethoxy)-ethoxy)-phenyl)-methyl ester (C60-2EPM) was developed to modify zinc oxide (ZnO) in inverted structure organic solar cells (OSCs). The composited ZnO/C60-2EPM interface layer can help to overcome the low interface compatibility between ZnO and organic active layer. By introducing the C60-2EPM layer, the composited fullerene derivatives tune energy alignment and accelerated the electronic transfer, leading to increased photocurrent and power conversion efficiency (PCE) in the inverted OSCs. The PCE based on PTB7-Th: PC71BM was enhance from 8.11% on bare ZnO to 8.38% and 8.65% with increasing concentrations of 2.0 and 4.0 mg/mL, respectively. The fullerene derivatives C60-2EPM was also used as a third compound in P3HT:PC61BM blend to form ternary system, the devices with addition of C60-2EPM exhibited better values than the control device.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, China

    Jikang Liu, Junli Li & Guoli Tu

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  1. Jikang Liu
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  2. Junli Li
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  3. Guoli Tu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Guoli Tu.

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Jikang Liu received his B.S. degree in 2014 from the Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China. In 2014, he joined the energy photoelectron functional laboratory of Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics and studied in the organic solar cells group. His main research interests include the preparation of organic solar cells devices and the self-assembly of fullerene derivatives.

Junli Li received her B.S. degree in 2014 from the Luoyang Normal University, China. In 2014, she joined the energy photoelectron functional laboratory of Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics and studied in the organic solar cells group. Her main research interests include the preparation of organic solar cells and organic light emitting diode devices.

Guoli Tu received his B.S. degree in 1996 from the Jilin University, China. He received his Ph.D. degree from Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, in 2003. From 2004 to 2006, he was engaged in postdoctoral research in Wuppertal University, Germany. From 2006 to 2009, he was engaged in postdoctoral research in the department of University of Cambridge, UK. From 2009, he is appointed as a professor of Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics at Huazhong University of Science and Technology. His main research interests include organic solar cells materials and devices, organic light emitting diode materials and devices, and polyimide materials and films.

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Liu, J., Li, J. & Tu, G. Ether chain functionalized fullerene derivatives as cathode interface materials for efficient organic solar cells. Front. Optoelectron. 11, 348–359 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12200-018-0842-9

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