Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Efficient organic solar cells with low-temperature in situ prepared Ga2O3 or In2O3 electron collection layers

基于低温原位法制备Ga2O3或In2O3电子收集层的 高效有机太阳电池

  • Articles
  • Published:
Science China Materials Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Facile synthesis of an interfacial layer in organic solar cells (OSCs) is important for broadening material designs and upscaling photovoltaic conversion efficiency (PCE). Herein, a mild solution process of spin-coating In(acac)3 and Ga(acac)3 isopropanol precursors followed by low-temperature thermal treatment was developed to fabricate In2O3 and Ga2O3 cathode buffer layers (CBLs). The introduction of In2O3 or Ga2O3 CBLs endows PM6:Y6-based OSCs with outstanding performance and high PCEs of 16.17% and 16.01%, respectively. Comparison studies present that the In2O3 layer possesses a work function (WF) of 4.58 eV, which is more favorable for the formation of ohmic contact compared with the Ga2O3 layer with a WF of 5.06 eV and leads to a higher open circuit voltage for the former devices. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy was performed to reveal how In2O3 and Ga2O3 affect the internal charge transfer and the origin of their performance difference. Although In2O3 possesses lower series resistance loss, Ga2O3 has a higher recombination resistance, which enhances the device fill factor and compensates for its series resistance loss to some extent. Comparative analysis of the photo-physics of In2O3 and Ga2O3 suggests that both are excellent CBLs for highly efficient OSCs.

摘要

有机太阳电池(OSCs)中, 温和的界面材料制备工艺对于拓宽 材料适用范围和提高器件能量转换效率(PCE)具有重要作用. 本文 提出了简便易行的In2O3和Ga2O3电子收集层的制备方法, 即旋涂 In(acac)3和Ga(acac)3异丙醇前驱体溶液并结合低温热退火. 在基于 PM6:Y6的OSCs中引入In2O3和Ga2O3电子收集层, 得到了性能优异 的器件, PCE分别达到16.17和16.01. 对比研究发现, In2O3的功函数 WF为4.58 eV, 这比WF为5.06 eV的Ga2O3更有利于与ITO电极形成 欧姆接触, 因此基于前者的器件开路电压更高. 此外, 电化学阻抗谱 EIS的研究进一步揭示了In2O3和Ga2O3对器件内部电荷转移过程的 影响及其性能差异的由来: In2O3的串联电阻损耗虽然较低, 但 Ga2O3的复合电阻较高, 所以一定程度上提高了基于Ga2O3的器件 的填充因子, 进而补偿了其串联电阻的损失. 本论文的对比研究发 现, In2O3和Ga2O3都是OSCs优异的电子收集层.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Gasparini N, Jiao X, Heumueller T, et al. Designing ternary blend bulk heterojunction solar cells with reduced carrier recombination and a fill factor of 77%. Nat Energy, 2016, 1: 16118

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Yan T, Song W, Huang J, et al. 16.67% rigid and 14.06% flexible organic solar cells enabled by ternary heterojunction strategy. Adv Mater, 2019, 31: 1902210

    Google Scholar 

  3. Zhang Z, Miao J, Ding Z, et al. Efficient and thermally stable organic solar cells based on small molecule donor and polymer acceptor. Nat Commun, 2019, 10: 3271

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Wang T, Sun R, Shi M, et al. Solution-processed polymer solar cells with over 17% efficiency enabled by an iridium complexation approach. Adv Energy Mater, 2020, 10: 2000590

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Li J, Bai Y, Yang B, et al. Multifunctional bipyramid-Au@ZnO core-shell nanoparticles as a cathode buffer layer for efficient nonfullerene inverted polymer solar cells with improved near-infrared photoresponse. J Mater Chem A, 2019, 7: 2667–2676

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Wang F, Wang Y, Liu H, et al. Fine tuning the light distribution within the photoactive layer by both solution-processed anode and cathode interlayers for high performance polymer solar cells. Sol RRL, 2018, 2: 1800141

    Google Scholar 

  7. Lin Y, Adilbekova B, Firdaus Y, et al. 17% efficient organic solar cells based on liquid exfoliated WS2 as a replacement for PEDOT: PSS. Adv Mater, 2019, 31: 1902965

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Wang F, Tan Z, Li Y. Solution-processable metal oxides/chelates as electrode buffer layers for efficient and stable polymer solar cells. Energy Environ Sci, 2015, 8: 1059–1091

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Yang B, Zhang S, Li S, et al. A self-organized poly(vinylpyrrolidone)-based cathode interlayer in inverted fullerene-free organic solar cells. Adv Mater, 2019, 31: 1804657

    Google Scholar 

  10. Bai Y, Yang B, Zhao C, et al. Synergy of a titanium chelate electron collection layer and a vertical phase separated photoactive layer for efficient inverted polymer solar cells. J Mater Chem A, 2018, 6: 7257–7264

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Kim CS, Lee SS, Gomez ED, et al. Transient photovoltaic behavior of air-stable, inverted organic solar cells with solution-processed electron transport layer. Appl Phys Lett, 2009, 94: 113302

    Google Scholar 

  12. Yang B, Bai Y, Zeng R, et al. Low-temperature in-situ preparation of ZnO electron extraction layer for efficient inverted polymer solar cells. Org Electron, 2019, 74: 82–88

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Wang C, Luo D, Gao Y, et al. Delicate energy-level adjustment and interfacial defect passivation of ZnO electron transport layers in organic solar cells by constructing ZnO/In nanojunctions. J Phys Chem C, 2019, 123: 16546–16555

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Liang Z, Zhang Q, Jiang L, et al. ZnO cathode buffer layers for inverted polymer solar cells. Energy Environ Sci, 2015, 8: 3442–3476

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Kim J, Kim SH, Lee HH, et al. New architecture for high-efficiency polymer photovoltaic cells using solution-based titanium oxide as an optical spacer. Adv Mater, 2006, 18: 572–576

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Park MH, Li JH, Kumar A, et al. Doping of the metal oxide nanostructure and its influence in organic electronics. Adv Funct Mater, 2009, 19: 1241–1246

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Salim T, Yin Z, Sun S, et al. Solution-processed nanocrystalline TiO2 buffer layer used for improving the performance of organic photovoltaics. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces, 2011, 3: 1063–1067

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Eisner F, Seitkhan A, Han Y, et al. Solution-processed In2O3/ZnO heterojunction electron transport layers for efficient organic bulk heterojunction and inorganic colloidal quantum-dot solar cells. Sol RRL, 2018, 2: 1800076

    Google Scholar 

  19. Sun Y, Wang M, Liu C, et al. Realizing efficiency improvement of polymer solar cells by using multi-functional cascade electron transport layers. Org Electron, 2020, 76: 105482

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Yoon S, Kim SJ, Kim HS, et al. Solution-processed indium oxide electron transporting layers for high-performance and photo-stable perovskite and organic solar cells. Nanoscale, 2017, 9: 16305–16312

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Huang W, Zhu B, Chang SY, et al. High mobility indium oxide electron transport layer for an efficient charge extraction and optimized nanomorphology in organic photovoltaics. Nano Lett, 2018, 18: 5805–5811

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Pan YX, Sun ZQ, Cong HP, et al. Photocatalytic CO2 reduction highly enhanced by oxygen vacancies on Pt-nanoparticle-dispersed gallium oxide. Nano Res, 2016, 9: 1689–1700

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Moloney J, Tesh O, Singh M, et al. Atomic layer deposited α-Ga2O3 solar-blind photodetectors. J Phys D-Appl Phys, 2019, 52: 475101

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Li X, Liu D, Mo X, et al. Nanorod β-Ga2O3 semiconductor modified activated carbon as catalyst for improving power generation of microbial fuel cell. J Solid State Electrochem, 2019, 23: 2843–2852

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Kumar SS, Rubio EJ, Noor-A-Alam M, et al. Structure, morphology, and optical properties of amorphous and nanocrystalline gallium oxide thin films. J Phys Chem C, 2013, 117: 4194–4200

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Zhang S, Qin Y, Zhu J, et al. Over 14% efficiency in polymer solar cells enabled by a chlorinated polymer donor. Adv Mater, 2018, 30: 1800868

    Google Scholar 

  27. Du X, Zhao J, Zhang H, et al. Modulating the molecular packing and distribution enables fullerene-free ternary organic solar cells with high efficiency and long shelf-life. J Mater Chem A, 2019, 7: 20139–20150

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Qin M, Ma J, Ke W, et al. Perovskite solar cells based on low-temperature processed indium oxide electron selective layers. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces, 2016, 8: 8460–8466

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Pan Y, Wang L, Gao DW, et al. Comparative analysis of Ga2O3/In2O3 incorporation in (Co−ZnS/Se) chalcogenide composite materials. Mater Res Express, 2019, 6: 106441

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Rim YS, Chen H, Song TB, et al. Hexaaqua metal complexes for low-temperature formation of fully metal oxide thin-film transistors. Chem Mater, 2015, 27: 5808–5812

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. Tan Z, Zhang W, Zhang Z, et al. High-performance inverted polymer solar cells with solution-processed titanium chelate as electron-collecting layer on ITO electrode. Adv Mater, 2012, 24: 1476–1481

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  32. Kim DJ, Kim HK. Optimization of titanium-doped indium oxide anodes for heterojunction organic solar cells. Phys Status Solidi A, 2017, 214: 1600463

    Google Scholar 

  33. Shi Z, Liu H, Wang Y, et al. Incorporating an electrode modification layer with a vertical phase separated photoactive layer for efficient and stable inverted nonfullerene polymer solar cells. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces, 2017, 9: 43871–43879

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  34. Pan MA, Lau TK, Tang Y, et al. 16.7%-efficiency ternary blended organic photovoltaic cells with PCBM as the acceptor additive to increase the open-circuit voltage and phase purity. J Mater Chem A, 2019, 7: 20713–20722

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  35. Wang Z, Luo Z, Zhao C, et al. Efficient and stable pure green allinorganic perovskite CsPbBr3 light-emitting diodes with a solution-processed NiOx interlayer. J Phys Chem C, 2017, 121: 28132–28138

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  36. Lee JH, Shin JH, Song JY, et al. Interface formation between ZnO nanorod arrays and polymers (PCBM and P3HT) for organic solar cells. J Phys Chem C, 2012, 116: 26342–26348

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  37. Yuan J, Zhang Y, Zhou L, et al. Single-junction organic solar cell with over 15% efficiency using fused-ring acceptor with electron-deficient core. Joule, 2019, 3: 1140–1151

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  38. Guan Z, Yu J, Zang Y, et al. Inverted organic solar cells with improved performance using varied cathode buffer layers. Chin J Chem Phys, 2012, 25: 625–630

    Google Scholar 

  39. Li Z, Guo W, Liu C, et al. Impedance investigation of the highly efficient polymer solar cells with composite CuBr2/MoO3 hole transport layer. Phys Chem Chem Phys, 2017, 19: 20839–20846

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  40. Kuwabara T, Iwata C, Yamaguchi T, et al. Mechanistic insights into UV-induced electron transfer from PCBM to titanium oxide in inverted-type organic thin film solar cells using AC impedance spectroscopy. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces, 2010, 2: 2254–2260

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  41. Bai Y, Zhao C, Guo Q, et al. Enhancing the electron blocking ability of n-type MoO3 by doping with p-type NiO for efficient nonfullerene polymer solar cells. Org Electron, 2019, 68: 168–175

    CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51573042, 61874148, 51873007, 5181101540 and 21835006), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities in China (2019MS025 and 2018MS032), and the State Key Laboratory of Alternate Electrical Power System with Renewable Energy Sources (LAPS20003).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory Of Alternate Electrical Power System With Renewable Energy Sources, North China Electric Power University, Beijing, 102206, China

    Yiming Bai  (白一鸣), Rongkang Shi  (时融康), Yinglong Bai  (白英龙), Fuzhi Wang  (王福芝) & Zhan’ao Tan  (谭占鳌)

  2. Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Soft Matter Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, 100029, China

    Zhan’ao Tan  (谭占鳌)

  3. Institute of Information Photonics and Optical Communications, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing, 100876, China

    Jun Wang  (王俊)

  4. NAAM Research Group, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, 21589, Saudi Arabia

    Tasawar Hayat & Ahmed Alsaedi

Authors
  1. Yiming Bai  (白一鸣)
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Rongkang Shi  (时融康)
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Yinglong Bai  (白英龙)
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Fuzhi Wang  (王福芝)
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Jun Wang  (王俊)
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Tasawar Hayat
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Ahmed Alsaedi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Zhan’ao Tan  (谭占鳌)
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

Bai YM and Tan Z designed the electron collection layers, performed the data analysis and wrote the paper; Shi R performed part of the experiments, figures and data analyses; Bai YL performed some data analysis; Wang F and Wang J contributed to the theoretical analysis. All authors contributed to the general discussion.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Zhan’ao Tan  (谭占鳌).

Additional information

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Yiming Bai is an associate professor at the State Key Laboratory of Alternate Electrical Power System with Renewable Energy Sources, North China Electric Power University (NCEPU). She obtained PhD from the Institute of Semiconductor, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in 2007, and then worked in the Key Laboratory of Semiconductors, CAS. In Nov. 2009, she joined the Renewable Energy School, NCEPU. Her research interests concentrate on photovoltaic materials and devices.

Zhan’ao Tan has been a professor in Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Soft Matter Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology since 2018, and he worked as a professor in NCEPU from 2009 to 2019. Currently, he leads the Group of Organic Optoelectronic Materials and Devices. His present research interests include organic solar cells, colloidal nanocrystal and carbon dots-based optoelectronics, perovskite solar cells and light-emitting diodes.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Bai, Y., Shi, R., Bai, Y. et al. Efficient organic solar cells with low-temperature in situ prepared Ga2O3 or In2O3 electron collection layers. Sci. China Mater. 64, 1095–1104 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40843-020-1514-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40843-020-1514-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation