Trap-Filling of ZnO Buffer Layer for Improved Efficiencies of Organic Solar Cells

Frontiers in Chemistry
Mingguang LiWei Huang

Abstract

Trap-assisted recombination loss in the cathode buffer layers (CBLs) is detrimental to the electron extraction process and severely restricts the power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of organic solar cells (OSCs). Herein, a novel organic-inorganic hybrid film composed of zinc oxide (ZnO) and 2,3,5,6-tetrafluoro-7,7,8, 8-tetracyanoquinodimethane (F4TCNQ) is designed to fill the intrinsic charge traps of ZnO-based CBLs by doping F4TCNQ for high-performance inverted OSCs. Thus, constructed ZnO:F4TCNQ hybrid film exhibits enhanced surface hydrophobicity and adjustable energy levels, providing favorable interfacial condition for electron extraction process. Consequently, trap-assisted recombination loss in the CBLs was efficiently suppressed, leading to the significantly improved fill factor and PCEs of both fullerene- and non-fullerene-based OSCs using the ZnO:F4TCNQ hybrid CBLs. This work illustrates a convenient organic acceptor doping approach to suppress the internal charge traps of traditional inorganic CBLs, which will shed new light on the fabrication of high-performance CBLs with facile electron extraction processes in inverted OSC devices.

References

Jun 21, 2012·Journal of Physics. Condensed Matter : an Institute of Physics Journal·Michelle J S SpencerIrene Yarovsky
Mar 5, 2016·Advanced Materials·Robert M Hewlett, Martyn A McLachlan
Nov 5, 2016·Advanced Science·Zhigang YinQingdong Zheng

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Citations

May 1, 2021·Nanomaterials·Marcela Socol, Nicoleta Preda

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Methods Mentioned

BETA
X-ray
AFM
atomic force microscopy

Software Mentioned

ESCALAB

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