Using an Atomically Thin Layer of Hexagonal Boron Nitride to Separate Bound Charge-Transfer Excitons at Organic Interfaces

Abstract

Although there has been extensive interest in combining organic and two-dimensional (2D) materials to produce hybrid heterostructures for optoelectronic applications (including photovoltaics), very few studies have demonstrated how such hybrid structures might outperform structures formed by either component alone. This work presents a scalable method to produce centimeter-sized organic-2D multilayer structures, and shows that the photon-to-free-carrier conversion yield is significantly enhanced when monolayer h-BN is inserted at an organic donor-acceptor interface. This result should inspire future studies on incorporating 2D materials into organic devices to improve efficiency.