Device modelling and optimization studies on novel ITIC-OE based non-fullerene organic solar cell with diverse hole and electron transport layers

Abstract

The novel fullerene-free organic solar cell with high dielectric constant ITIC-OE acceptor material shows a lot of potential for advancements in organic photovoltaics research. In this work, organic bulk heterojunction solar cell with polymer donor PBDB-T and non-fullerene acceptor ITIC-OE is studied in detail using SCAPS 1-D. The software is calibrated by matching the simulated J-V(current density-voltage) curve and EQE(External quantum efficiency) curve measurements with the experimental results for the primary solar cell structure ITO/PEDOT:PSS/PBDB-T/ITIC-OE/PFN-Br/Ag. Different hole and electron transport layer(HTL and ETL) candidates are simulated to study the cell performance. The proposed candidates for HTL are Copper iodide(CuI),Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-poly(styrenesulfonate)(PEDOT:PSS), Nickel oxide(NiO) and Poly[2- methoxy-5-(2-ethyl hexyloxy) −1, 4- phenylene vinylene] (MEH-PPV) while that for ETL are Titanium dioxide (TiO2), Zinc oxide(ZnO), Phenyl- C61 -butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM), C60, Poly(9,9-bis(3’-(N,N-dimethyl)-N-ethylammoinium-propyl-2,7-fluorene)-alt-2,7-(9,9-dioctylfluorene)) dibromide (PFN–Br), Indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO) and Tin dioxide (SnO2) respectively. Among the various combinations, NiO(nickel oxide) as HTL and TiO2 (titanium dioxide) as ETL delivers the highest output. The design is further optimized to study the effect of material parameters on the device performance.