Abstract
A series of polymer solar cells (PSCs) with P3HT:PCBM or P3HT:PCBM:Ir(btpy)3blend films as the active layer were fabricated under the same conditions. Effects of phosphorescent material Ir(btpy)3doping concentration and annealing temperature on the performance of PSCs were investigated. The short-circuit current density (Jsc) and open-circuit voltage (Voc) are increased by adopting P3HT:PCBM:Ir(btpy)3blend films as the active layer when the cells do not undergo annealing treatment. The increasedJscshould be attributed to the increase of photon harvesting induced by doping phosphorescent material Ir(btpy)3and the effective energy transfer from Ir(btpy)3to P3HT. The effective energy transfer from Ir(btpy)3to P3HT was demonstrated by time-resolved photoluminescence (PL) spectra. The increasedVocis due to the photovoltaic effect between Ir(btpy)3and PCBM. The power conversion efficiency (PCE) of PSCs with P3HT:PCBM as the active layer is increased from 0.19% to 1.49% by annealing treatment at 140°C for 10 minutes. The PCE of PSCs with P3HT:PCBM:Ir(btpy)3as the active layer is increased from 0.49% to 0.95% by annealing treatment at lower temperature at 100°C for 10 minutes.
Highlights
Polymer solar cells (PSCs) are considered one of the most promising sources for clean and renewable energy due to their advantages such as lightweight, low cost, ease of large scale manufacture, and compatibility with flexible substrates [1,2,3,4]
Factors limiting the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of PSCs could be summarized as the following: (i) mismatch between the absorption of organic photovoltaic materials and the solar light spectrum [7]; (ii) the relatively lower exciton dissociation efficiency induced by the limit of exciton diffusion distance and interfacial energy level mismatch [8, 9]; and (iii) the transport and collection of charge carriers dependence on the phase separation in active layers and the work function of electrode materials [1, 10]
Zhang et al reported that the PCE of PSCs based on oleic acidFe3O4-doped P3HT:PCBM as the active layer was enhanced by ∼18% primarily due to the increase of Jsc, which is attributed to the increase of the population of triplet excitons induced by the magnetic field effect originated from the superparamagnetism of Fe3O4 nanoparticles (NPs) [27]
Summary
Polymer solar cells (PSCs) are considered one of the most promising sources for clean and renewable energy due to their advantages such as lightweight, low cost, ease of large scale manufacture, and compatibility with flexible substrates [1,2,3,4]. Molecular arrangement of donor and acceptor materials has great influence on photon harvesting and charge carrier transport and collection, which strongly determines the performance of PSCs. A series of effective methods were proposed to control the molecular arrangement, such as annealing treatment, solvent additive treatment, nanoimprint, and electric field treatment methods [13,14,15,16]. Zhang et al reported that the PCE of PSCs based on oleic acidFe3O4-doped P3HT:PCBM as the active layer was enhanced by ∼18% primarily due to the increase of Jsc, which is attributed to the increase of the population of triplet excitons induced by the magnetic field effect originated from the superparamagnetism of Fe3O4 nanoparticles (NPs) [27]. The effect of phosphorescent material Ir(btpy) doping concentration in P3HT:PCBM and annealing treatment temperature on performance of PSCs was investigated. The underlying reason was discussed from the photon harvesting, energy transfer, and phase separation induced by doping phosphorescent material Ir(btpy) in P3HT:PCBM
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