Highly crystalline bilayer electron transport layer for efficient conjugated polymer solar cells

Solution processed solar cells are a promising renewable energy technology due to the low fabrication costs. The most commonly used electron transport layer for solution processed organic solar cells is ZnO. However, sol-gel derived ZnO is amorphous, which limits interfacial charge transport. In thi...

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Main Authors: Xu, C., Wright, M., Elumalai, Naveen Kumar, Mahmud, M., Wang, D., Upama, M., Haque, F., Uddin, A.
Format: Journal Article
Published: Elsevier 2018
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/73998
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author Xu, C.
Wright, M.
Elumalai, Naveen Kumar
Mahmud, M.
Wang, D.
Upama, M.
Haque, F.
Uddin, A.
author_facet Xu, C.
Wright, M.
Elumalai, Naveen Kumar
Mahmud, M.
Wang, D.
Upama, M.
Haque, F.
Uddin, A.
author_sort Xu, C.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Solution processed solar cells are a promising renewable energy technology due to the low fabrication costs. The most commonly used electron transport layer for solution processed organic solar cells is ZnO. However, sol-gel derived ZnO is amorphous, which limits interfacial charge transport. In this study, we demonstrate a ZnO bilayer, composed of a nanoparticle ZnO and sol-gel derived ZnO layer, as the electron transport layer in polymer solar cells incorporating the novel polymer poly [(5,6-difluoro-2,1,3-benzothiadiazol-4,7-diyl)-alt-(3,3‴-di (2-octyldodecyl)-2,2′; 5′,2″; 5″,2‴-quaterthiophen-5,5‴-diyl)] (PffBT4T-2OD). Compared with the single layer sol-gel ZnO, the bilayer displayed enhanced crystallinity. Consequently, the interfacial transport from the active layer was improved, as evidenced by dark J-V and PL spectroscopy measurements. Solar cells incorporating this bilayer ZnO layer achieved PCE values exceeding 10%, a relative improvement of 25% compared to the sol-gel ZnO devices.
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institution Curtin University Malaysia
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T10:58:56Z
publishDate 2018
publisher Elsevier
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-739982019-06-26T07:48:56Z Highly crystalline bilayer electron transport layer for efficient conjugated polymer solar cells Xu, C. Wright, M. Elumalai, Naveen Kumar Mahmud, M. Wang, D. Upama, M. Haque, F. Uddin, A. Solution processed solar cells are a promising renewable energy technology due to the low fabrication costs. The most commonly used electron transport layer for solution processed organic solar cells is ZnO. However, sol-gel derived ZnO is amorphous, which limits interfacial charge transport. In this study, we demonstrate a ZnO bilayer, composed of a nanoparticle ZnO and sol-gel derived ZnO layer, as the electron transport layer in polymer solar cells incorporating the novel polymer poly [(5,6-difluoro-2,1,3-benzothiadiazol-4,7-diyl)-alt-(3,3‴-di (2-octyldodecyl)-2,2′; 5′,2″; 5″,2‴-quaterthiophen-5,5‴-diyl)] (PffBT4T-2OD). Compared with the single layer sol-gel ZnO, the bilayer displayed enhanced crystallinity. Consequently, the interfacial transport from the active layer was improved, as evidenced by dark J-V and PL spectroscopy measurements. Solar cells incorporating this bilayer ZnO layer achieved PCE values exceeding 10%, a relative improvement of 25% compared to the sol-gel ZnO devices. 2018 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/73998 10.1016/j.cap.2018.02.012 Elsevier restricted
spellingShingle Xu, C.
Wright, M.
Elumalai, Naveen Kumar
Mahmud, M.
Wang, D.
Upama, M.
Haque, F.
Uddin, A.
Highly crystalline bilayer electron transport layer for efficient conjugated polymer solar cells
title Highly crystalline bilayer electron transport layer for efficient conjugated polymer solar cells
title_full Highly crystalline bilayer electron transport layer for efficient conjugated polymer solar cells
title_fullStr Highly crystalline bilayer electron transport layer for efficient conjugated polymer solar cells
title_full_unstemmed Highly crystalline bilayer electron transport layer for efficient conjugated polymer solar cells
title_short Highly crystalline bilayer electron transport layer for efficient conjugated polymer solar cells
title_sort highly crystalline bilayer electron transport layer for efficient conjugated polymer solar cells
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/73998