Interfacial engineering of electron transport layer using Caesium Iodide for efficient and stable organic solar cells

Upama, Mushfika Baishakhi; Elumalai, Naveen Kumar; Mahmud, Arafat; Wright, Matthew; Wang, Dian; Xu, Cheng; Haque, Faiazul; Chan, Kah Howe; Uddin, Ashraf

doi:10.1016/j.apsusc.2017.04.164

Cited by 34 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 60 publications

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Section: Results and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurement has been conducted to gain further insights into the charge transfer properties and the trap-assisted recombination phenomena of the fabricated devices. 40,54 Impedance analysis suggests that the thin mesoporous layer is an "active scaffold" selectively a R a represents arithmetical mean deviation of the assessed profile, while R q represents root mean squared value. Briefly, R SE is associated with series resistance owing to metal and wire connection, while R C and R REC are the interfacial contact resistance originating from perovskite/ETL or perovskite/HTL interface and recombination resistance respectively.…”

Section: Acs Applied Energy Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Bilayer SnO₂ as Electron Transport Layer for Highly Efficient Perovskite Solar Cells

Wang

Mahmud

et al. 2018

ACS Appl. Energy Mater.

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110

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Tin oxide (SnO 2 ) has been reported as a promising electron transport layer (ETL) for planar heterojunction perovskite solar cells (PSCs). This work reports a low temperature solution-processed bilayer SnO 2 as an efficient ETL in gas-quenched planar-heterojunction methylammonium lead iodide (MAPbI 3 ) perovskite solar cells. SnO 2 nanoparticles were employed to fill the pin-holes of sol−gel SnO 2 layer and form a smooth and compact bilayer structure. The PCE of bilayer devices has increased by 30% compared with sol− gel reference device and the J sc , V oc , and FF has been improved simultaneously. The superior performance of bilayer SnO 2 is attributed to the reduced current leakage, enhanced electron extraction characteristics, and mitigated the trapassisted interfacial recombination via X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and space-charge limited current−voltage (SCLC) analysis.

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Section: Results and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Acs Applied Energy Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bilayer SnO₂ as Electron Transport Layer for Highly Efficient Perovskite Solar Cells

Wang

Mahmud

et al. 2018

ACS Appl. Energy Mater.

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110

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“…Moreover, the electron transfer time constant ( τ ) can be calculated through τ = 1/2π f max. The optimal device with the smallest τ value of 2.83 microseconds was achieved under the concentration of 2 mg mL −1 of PFBr, which is 1.7 times faster than that in ZnO CIL devices (4.8 μs) . In other words, the proceeding time of electrons at the interface is very short, which implies that photogenerated electrons can reach the ITO cathode in organic solar cells in shorter time, that is, a faster electron transport.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 89%

An eco‐friendly water‐soluble fluorene‐based polyelectrolyte as interfacial layer for efficient inverted polymer solar cells

Peng

et al. 2018

Polymers for Advanced Techs

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A conjugated polyelectrolyte poly (9,9-bis(3′-[(N,N-dimethyl)-N-ethylammonium]-propyl)-2,7-fluorene dibromide) (PFBr) with the feature of environmental friendliness and cheapness was successfully used in polymer solar cells (PSCs) as the cathode interfacial layer (CIL). And we successfully demonstrate that the PFBr can build interfacial dipoles at the CIL/cathode interfaces, leading to reduce cathode work functions and improve open-circuit voltages, which decrease interfacial energy loss at the cathode. It not only improves the electron transfer efficiency but also inhibits the charge carrier recombination at the contact interface. Impedance spectra revealed that the optimal device with the smallest charge transport time constant of 2.83 microseconds was achieved under the concentration of 2 mg mL −1 of PFBr, which suggests efficient electron transport on the interface between the organic active layer and the indium tin oxide cathode. Moreover, as a consequence, the power conversion efficiency of the PSCs increases to 3.83% (with PFBr as CIL) from 1.89% (without any CIL), based on the poly(3-hexylthiophene) and [6,6]-phenyl C 61 -butyric acid methyl ester bulk heterojunction active layer. Therefore, our observation can demonstrate PFBr is a prospective candidate as CIL for constructing low-cost, largearea, and flexible PSCs. KEYWORDS cathode interfacial layer, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, PFBr, polymer solar cells, scanning Kelvin probe microscope 1 | INTRODUCTION Photovoltaic technology provides an environmentally friendly and sustainable power supply for overcoming the global energy crisis. 1,2 In particular, bulk heterojunction polymer solar cells (PSCs) have attracted great attention during recent decades, owing to the excellent merits of lightweight, flexible low-cost, and large-area devices through solution processing. 3-5 Recent great progresses have been made by controlling the active layer morphology by posttreatment methods, 6 developing novel interfacial layers, 7 active materials, and new device structures with enlarged donor/acceptor interface. 8 As known, there are 2 main device structures of PSCs. The commonly adopted device structure of regular PSCs consists of indium tin oxide (ITO)/PEDOT:PSS (hole transport layer)/active layer/electron transport layer/low-work-function metal cathode (such as Ca and Al). It has been proved that the lifetime for regular PSCs is poor, because of the reactive metal cathode with a low-work function, which can be easily oxidized in air, and the hole-collecting interlayer of acidic and hygroscopic PEDOT:PSS etching of the ITO. As an alternative, there has been an increased interest in inverted PSCs (i-PSCs), in which the charge-collecting nature of the electrodes is reversed; that is, modified ITO is used as the cathode, and a high-work-function metal (such as Ag) is used as the anode. The i-PSCs have attracted more and more research because it provides not only long-term stability but also flexibility in the design and fabrication for advanced PSCs.For achi...

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“…An assortment of ETL materials, including low work function metals or related salts, e.g., Ca ( Anagnostou et al, 2019 ; Ghosekar and Patil, 2019 ; Lian et al, 2019 ; Song et al, 2019 ; Yu et al, 2019 ) and LiF ( Zhao and Alford, 2018 ; Lee et al, 2019 ; Zheng et al, 2019 ; Adedeji et al, 2020 ; Li et al, 2020b ), and n-type semiconducting metal oxides, e.g., ZnO ( Upama et al, 2017 ; Ahmad et al, 2019 ; Frankenstein et al, 2019 ; Zhang X. et al, 2020 ; Usmani et al, 2021 ) and TiO 2 ( Lin et al, 2013 ; Sun et al, 2016 ; Al-hashimi et al, 2018 ; Abdallaoui et al, 2020 ; Chaudhary et al, 2021 ), have been commonly used to fabricate OSCs. However, Ca and LiF are usually deposited by thermal evaporation in a high vacuum environment at high temperature, which is expensive, complicated and incompatible with flexible devices; hence, making them unfavourable.…”

Section: Charge Transport Layermentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent Applications of Carbon Nanotubes in Organic Solar Cells

et al. 2022

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In recent years, carbon-based materials, particularly carbon nanotubes (CNTs), have gained intensive research attention in the fabrication of organic solar cells (OSCs) due to their outstanding physicochemical properties, low-cost, environmental friendliness and the natural abundance of carbon. In this regard, the low sheet resistance and high optical transmittance of CNTs enables their application as alternative anodes to the widely used indium tin oxide (ITO), which is toxic, expensive and scarce. Also, the synergy between the large specific surface area and high electrical conductivity of CNTs provides both large donor-acceptor interfaces and conductive interpenetrating networks for exciton dissociation and charge carrier transport. Furthermore, the facile tunability of the energy levels of CNTs provides proper energy level alignment between the active layer and electrodes for effective extraction and transportation of charge carriers. In addition, the hydrophobic nature and high thermal conductivity of CNTs enables them to form protective layers that improve the moisture and thermal stability of OSCs, thereby prolonging the devices’ lifetime. Recently, the introduction of CNTs into OSCs produced a substantial increase in efficiency from ∼0.68 to above 14.00%. Thus, further optimization of the optoelectronic properties of CNTs can conceivably help OSCs to compete with silicon solar cells that have been commercialized. Therefore, this study presents the recent breakthroughs in efficiency and stability of OSCs, achieved mainly over 2018–2021 by incorporating CNTs into electrodes, active layers and charge transport layers. The challenges, advantages and recommendations for the fabrication of low-cost, highly efficient and sustainable next-generation OSCs are also discussed, to open up avenues for commercialization.

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Interfacial engineering of electron transport layer using Caesium Iodide for efficient and stable organic solar cells

Cited by 34 publications

References 60 publications

Bilayer SnO₂ as Electron Transport Layer for Highly Efficient Perovskite Solar Cells

Bilayer SnO₂ as Electron Transport Layer for Highly Efficient Perovskite Solar Cells

An eco‐friendly water‐soluble fluorene‐based polyelectrolyte as interfacial layer for efficient inverted polymer solar cells

Recent Applications of Carbon Nanotubes in Organic Solar Cells

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Interfacial engineering of electron transport layer using Caesium Iodide for efficient and stable organic solar cells

Cited by 34 publications

References 60 publications

Bilayer SnO2 as Electron Transport Layer for Highly Efficient Perovskite Solar Cells

Bilayer SnO2 as Electron Transport Layer for Highly Efficient Perovskite Solar Cells

An eco‐friendly water‐soluble fluorene‐based polyelectrolyte as interfacial layer for efficient inverted polymer solar cells

Recent Applications of Carbon Nanotubes in Organic Solar Cells

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Product

Resources

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Bilayer SnO₂ as Electron Transport Layer for Highly Efficient Perovskite Solar Cells

Bilayer SnO₂ as Electron Transport Layer for Highly Efficient Perovskite Solar Cells