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Efficient Polymer Solar Cells with Alcohol-Soluble Zirconium(IV) Isopropoxide Cathode Buffer Layer

Author

Listed:
  • Zhen Luo

    (State Key Laboratory of Alternate Electrical Power System with Renewable Energy Sources, North China Electric Power University, Beijing 102206, China)

  • Bo Yang

    (State Key Laboratory of Alternate Electrical Power System with Renewable Energy Sources, North China Electric Power University, Beijing 102206, China)

  • Yiming Bai

    (State Key Laboratory of Alternate Electrical Power System with Renewable Energy Sources, North China Electric Power University, Beijing 102206, China)

  • Tasawar Hayat

    (Department of Mathematics, Quiad-I-Azam University, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan
    NAAM Research Group, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia)

  • Ahmed Alsaedi

    (NAAM Research Group, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia)

  • Zhan’ao Tan

    (State Key Laboratory of Alternate Electrical Power System with Renewable Energy Sources, North China Electric Power University, Beijing 102206, China)

Abstract

Interfacial materials are essential to the performance and stability of polymer solar cells (PSCs). Herein, solution-processed zirconium(IV) isopropoxide (Zr[OCH(CH 3 ) 2 ] 4 , ZrIPO) has been employed as an efficient cathode buffer layer between the Al cathode and photoactive layer. The ZrIPO buffer layer is prepared simply via spin-coating its isopropanol solution on the photoactive layer at room temperature without any post-treatment. When using ZrIPO/Al instead of the traditionally used Ca/Al cathode in PSCs, the short-circuit current density ( J sc ) is significantly improved and the series resistance of the device is decreased. The power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the P3HT:PCBM-based device with ZrIPO buffer layer reaches 4.47% under the illumination of AM1.5G, 100 mW/cm 2 . A better performance with PCE of 8.07% is achieved when a low bandgap polymer PBDTBDD is selected as donor material. The results indicate that ZrIPO is a promising electron collection material as a substitute of the traditional low-work-function cathode for high performance PSCs.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhen Luo & Bo Yang & Yiming Bai & Tasawar Hayat & Ahmed Alsaedi & Zhan’ao Tan, 2018. "Efficient Polymer Solar Cells with Alcohol-Soluble Zirconium(IV) Isopropoxide Cathode Buffer Layer," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-11, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:11:y:2018:i:2:p:328-:d:129932
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Jingbi You & Letian Dou & Ken Yoshimura & Takehito Kato & Kenichiro Ohya & Tom Moriarty & Keith Emery & Chun-Chao Chen & Jing Gao & Gang Li & Yang Yang, 2013. "A polymer tandem solar cell with 10.6% power conversion efficiency," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 4(1), pages 1-10, June.
    2. Yuhang Liu & Jingbo Zhao & Zhengke Li & Cheng Mu & Wei Ma & Huawei Hu & Kui Jiang & Haoran Lin & Harald Ade & He Yan, 2014. "Aggregation and morphology control enables multiple cases of high-efficiency polymer solar cells," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 5(1), pages 1-8, December.
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