Author(s): Gao, XM (Gao, Xueman); Su, ZH (Su, Zhenhuang); Qu, SC (Qu, Shengchun); Zhang, WZ (Zhang, Wenzhi); Gao, YY (Gao, Yueyue); He, SH (He, Shenghua); Wang, ZJ (Wang, Zhijie); Shang, LW (Shang, Luwen); Dong, GH (Dong, Guohua); Yue, GT (Yue, Gentian); Tan, FR (Tan, Furui); Wang, ZG (Wang, Zhangguo)

Source: JOURNAL OF MATERIALS CHEMISTRY C DOI: 10.1039/d1tc03409j Early Access Date: AUG 2021

Abstract: Organic solar cells (OSCs) simultaneously featuring good photovoltaic performance and strong humidity resistance are greatly anticipated for their practical application. Herein, we developed a simple organic trisiloxane molecule (denoted as TSi), and applied it to modify sol-gel ZnO (sg-ZnO) films. Compared to pristine sg-ZnO films, the TSi/sg-ZnO film presents fewer surface defects, shallower work function, and stronger hydrophobicity. Benefiting from those improved characteristics, when adopting a benzodifuran (BDF)-based polymer (BDFP-Bz) and Y6 as the electron donor and acceptor to fabricate OSCs, the derived devices utilizing TSi/sg-ZnO as the electron transport layer (ETL) showed suppressed charge recombination, enhanced charge extraction and increased stability to moisture versus the devices based on an sg-ZnO ETL. Meanwhile, PBDFP-Bz:Y6 OSCs based on a TSi/sg-ZnO ETL delivered a higher PCE of 14.62% than that of the control devices (12.39%). More importantly, the TSi/sg-ZnO ETL was also applicable in other different photovoltaic systems, among which PM6:Y6 OSCs based on a TSi/sg-ZnO ETL yielded a superior PCE of 16.37% along with stronger stability to moisture versus the reference ones. Our finding demonstrates the TSi/sg-ZnO bilayer ETL holds promise in the practical application of OSCs for simultaneously improving the photovoltaic performance and moisture-resistance of devices.

Accession Number: WOS:000694664700001

Author Identifiers:

Author        Web of Science ResearcherID        ORCID Number

Dong, Guohua         L-6409-2018         0000-0001-5972-5418

Yue, Gentian         J-4728-2013         0000-0001-5168-9731

ISSN: 2050-7526

eISSN: 2050-7534

Full Text: https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2021/TC/D1TC03409J