Skip to main content
Log in

Controlling the morphology of the active layer by using additives and its effect on bulk hetero-junction solar cell performance

  • Materials (Organic, Inorganic, Electronic, Thin Films)
  • Published:
Korean Journal of Chemical Engineering Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

-Improvement of the surface roughness and power conversion efficiency (PCE) of bulk hetero-junction (BHJ) solar cells was made by the addition of organic additives for the cells based on a low energy-gap polymer, poly [2,6-(4,4-bis-(2-ethylhexyl)-4H-cyclopenta [2,1-b;3,4-b'] dithiophene)-alt-4,7(2,1,3-benzothiadiazole)] (PCPDTBT), as an electron donor and [6,6]-phenyl C61 butyric acid methyl ester (PC61BM) as the electron acceptor. The PCPDTBT: PC61BM active layers were prepared by spin-coating process from four different organic solvents: pure chlorobenzene, chlorobenzene with 2.5 vol% 1,2-ethanedithiol (EDT) additive, chlorobenzene with 2.5 vol% 1,8-octanedithiol (ODT) additive, and chlorobenzene with a combination of 2.5 vol% EDT and 2.5 vol% ODT additives. The smoothest surface of the active layer, which was observed by AFM, was obtained in the case of PCPDTBT:PC61BM prepared with a combination of EDT and ODT additives in chlorobenzene, and a maximum PCE of 3.5% was achieved.

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

Access this article

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

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. C. J. Brabec, N. S. Sariciftci and J. C. Hummelen, Adv. Funct. Mater., 11, 15 (2001).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. S. Gunes, H. Neugebauer and N. S. Sariciftci, Chem. Rev., 107, 1324 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. B.C. Thompson and J.M. J. Frechet, Angew. Chem., Int. Ed., 47, 58 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. C. J. Brabec, S. Gowrisanker, J. J. M. Halls, D. Laird, S. J. Jia and S. P. Williams, Adv. Mater., 22, 3839 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. C. Liu, C. Yi, K. Wang, Y. Yang, R. S. Bhatta, M. Tsige, S. Xiao and X. Gong, ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 7(8),4928 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Y. Chang, Y. Su and C. Leu, Thin Solid Films, 534, 492 (2013).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. W. Ma, C. Yang, X. Gong, K. Lee and A. J. Heeger, Adv. Funct. Mater., 15, 1617 (2005).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. G. Li, Y. Yao, H. Yang, V. Shrotriya, G. Yang and Y. Yang, Adv. Funct. Mater., 17, 1636 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Y. Liu, J. Zhao, Z. Li, C. Mu, W. Ma, H. Hu, K. Jiang, H. Lin, H. Adeand and H. Yan, Nature Commun,, 5, 5293 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. H. Liao, P. Chen, R. P. H. Chang and W. Su, Polymers, 6(11),2784 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. S. Cook, A. Furube and R. Katoh, Japanese J. Appl. Phys., 47, 1238 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. W. Zhang, Y. Wu, Q. Bao, F. Gao and J. Fang, Adv. Energy Mater., 4, 1400359 (2014).

    Google Scholar 

  13. Z.C. He, C. Zhang, X.F. Xu, L. J. Zhang, L. Huang, J.W. Chen, H.B. Wu and Y. Cao, Adv. Mater., 23, 3086 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Y. M. Chang and J. M. Ding, Thin Solid Films, 520, 5400 (2012).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. H.L. Yip, S.K. Hau, N.S. Baek, H. Ma and A.K.Y. Jen, Adv. Mater., 20, 2376 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. S. K. Hau, H. Yip, O. Acton, S. Nam, H. Maa and A. K.-Y. Jen, J. Mater. Chem., 18, 5113 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. G. Wang, T. Jiu, G. Tang, J. Li, P. Li, X. Song, F. Lu and J. Fang, ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng., 2, 1331 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. P. Ruankham, S. Yoshikawa and T. Sagawa, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 15, 9516 (2013).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. M. Tanveer, A. Habib and M. Bilal Khan, J. Eng. Sci., 6(1),15 (2013).

    Google Scholar 

  20. L. Chen, Z. Xu, Z. Honga and Y. Yang, J. Mater. Chem., 20, 2575 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. J.Y. Kim, S.H. Kim, H. H. Lee, K. Lee, W. Ma, X. Gong and A. J. Heeger, Adv. Mater., 18, 572 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. J. Yang, J. You, C.C. Chen, W.C. Hsu, H.R. Tan, X.W. Zhang, Z. Hong and Y. Yang, ACS Nano, 5, 6210 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. A.K. Pandey, M. Aljada, M. Velusamy, P.L. Burn and P. Meredith, Adv. Mater., 24, 1055 (2012).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Q. Li, W. J. Yoon and H. Ju, Nanoscale Res. Lett., 9, 460 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. J. Peet, J.Y. Kim, N. E. Coates, W. L. Ma, D. Moses, A. J. Heeger and G. C. Bazan, Nature Mater., 6, 497 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. M. T. Dang and J.D. Wuest, Chem. Soc. Rev., 42, 9105 (2013).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. S. Ochiai, S. Imamura, S. Kannappan, K. Palanisamy and P. K. Shin, Cur. Appl. Phys., 13, S58 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Chinho Park.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Pham, V.H.T., Truong, N.T.N., Trinh, T.K. et al. Controlling the morphology of the active layer by using additives and its effect on bulk hetero-junction solar cell performance. Korean J. Chem. Eng. 33, 678–682 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11814-015-0162-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11814-015-0162-3

Keywords

Navigation