efficiency (PCE) of OPVs has already reached 14.2%. [1] However, a major drawback for the commercialization of OPVs is their long-term stability under continuous operation. Especially, OPVs suffer from a rapid decrease in PCE during initial device operation, which is known as the "burn-in loss." [2][3][4][5][6] The origin of the burn-in loss is thought to be mainly related to the instability of the bulk heterojunction (BHJ) morphology and/or interface rather than the photo-oxidation of the photoactive layer.Morphological instability of photoactive layer is one of critical issues of burn-in loss in OPV. [7][8][9][10][11] Because electron-donating and electron-accepting materials are blended in a photoactive layer to form metastable BHJ, applying high-temperature heat or strong light can cause microscopic morphology changes resulting in the burn-in loss. [8,9] For typical OPVs utilizing a BHJ, a photoactive layer (blend of electrondonating conjugated polymer and electron-accepting fullerene) is sandwiched between two electrodes (anode/cathode) with their corresponding charge-transporting (hole/electron) interlayers. [12] The interlayers minimize the energy barrier between the photoactive layer and electrodes, and thereby enhance the collection efficiencies of electrons/holes on the cathode/ anode. Thus, significant efforts have been made to develop various electron-transporting layer (ETL) materials for OPVs such as transition metal oxides, [13] carbon-based materials, [14] polymers, [15] low work function metal salts, [16] and organicinorganic hybrids. [17] Among various ETL materials, transition metal oxides are commonly utilized because of their adequate highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) energy levels, stability, transparency, and excellent electron mobility. [5,18] Additionally, transition metal oxide ETLs provide an excellent barrier property against oxygen and metal electrode diffusion compared to organic ETL materials. Various types of transition metal oxides such as zinc oxide (ZnO), [19] titanium oxide (TiO 2 or TiO x ), [20][21][22] tin oxide (SnO 2 or SnO x ), [23] and niobium oxide (Nb 2 O 5 or NbO x ) [24] have been explored for use as ETL materials for OPVs. Generally, the transition metal oxide layer is deposited by vacuum deposition techniques such as sputtering, [22] atomic layer deposition, [25] or It is revealed that instability of interface between photoactive layer and electron-transporting layer (ETL) is one of the causes of the rapid degradation of organic photovoltaics (OPV) performance during initial operation (burn-in loss) under the light soaking. The stability of OPV is greatly enhanced by applying a robust ETL composed of TiO 2 nanoparticles (TNPs). The TNPs bound with π-π interactive 3-phenylpentane-2,4-dione (TNP-Ph) form more robust ETLs than those bound with van der Waals interactive 3-methyl-2,4pentanedione TNP (TNP-Me). The OPV with TNP-Ph maintains 73% of its initial power conversion efficiency (PCE) after 1000 h of light soa...
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.