Metal Oxide Electron Transport Layer Research Articles

Exploring Graphene Quantum Dots/TiO2 interface in photoelectrochemical reactions: Solar to fuel conversion

Photocarrier (e−/h+) generation at low dimension graphene quantum dots offers multifunctional applications including bioimaging, optoelectronics and energy conversion devices. In this context, graphene quantum dots onto metal oxide electron transport layer finds great deal of attention in solar light driven photoelectrochemical (PEC) hydrogen fuel generation. The merits of combining tailored optical properties of the graphene quantum dots sensitizer with the transport properties of the host wide band gap one dimensional nanostructured semiconductor provide a platform for high charge collection which promotes catalytic proton reduction into fuel generation at PEC cells. However, understanding the underlying mechanism of photocarrier transfer characteristics at graphene quantum dots/metal oxide interface during operation is often difficult as graphene quantum dots may have a dual role as sensitizer and catalyst. Therefore, exploring photocarrier generation and injection at graphene quantum dot/metal oxide heterointerfaces in contact with hole scavenging electrolyte afford a new pathway in developing graphene quantum dots based photoelectrochemical fuel generation systems. In this work, we demonstrate direct assembly of surface modified graphene quantum dots (∼2nm particle size) onto TiO2 hollow nanowire (∼3μm in length and ∼100 to 250nm in diameter) by electrostatic attraction and examine the photocarrier accumulation and recombination processes leading to device operation. Optical characterization reveals that GQDs absorbed light photons at visible light wavelength up to 600nm. Hybrid TiO2-GQDs heterostructures show a photocurrent enhancement of ∼70% for water oxidation compared to pristine TiO2 using sacrificial-free electrolyte, which is further validated by incident photon to current efficiency. Additionally, the charge accumulation processes and charge transfer characteristics are investigated by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. These results provide the platform to understand the insights of graphene quantum dots/metal oxide interfaces in PEC reactions and discuss the feasibility of graphene quantum dots in wide range of electrochemical and photoelectrochemical based fuel conversion devices.

Efficient organic solar cells using copper(I) iodide (CuI) hole transport layers

We report the fabrication of high power conversion efficiency (PCE) polymer/fullerene bulk heterojunction (BHJ) photovoltaic cells using solution-processed Copper (I) Iodide (CuI) as hole transport layer (HTL). Our devices exhibit a PCE value of ∼5.5% which is equivalent to that obtained for control devices based on the commonly used conductive polymer poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene): polystyrenesulfonate as HTL. Inverted cells with PCE >3% were also demonstrated using solution-processed metal oxide electron transport layers, with a CuI HTL evaporated on top of the BHJ. The high optical transparency and suitable energetics of CuI make it attractive for application in a range of inexpensive large-area optoelectronic devices.

Effect of ZnO electron-transport layer on light-soaking issue in inverted polymer solar cells

A common phenomenon of polymer solar cells with metal oxide electron-transport layers (ETLs), known as “light-soaking” issue, is that the as-prepared device exhibits an anomalous S-shaped J-V characteristic, resulting in an extremely low fill factor (FF) and thus a poor power conversion efficiency. However, the S-shape disappears upon white light illumination with UV spectral components, meanwhile the performance parameters of the device recover the normal values eventually. This behavior appears to be of general validity for various metal oxide layers regardless of the synthesis and fabricating processes. Its origin is still under debate, while the ETL interface problems have generally been claimed to be the underlying reason so far. In this paper, both conventional and inverted cells with using ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) as ETL are fabricated to clarify the interface effect of the ETL on the light soaking procedure. The inverted device shows a typical light-soaking issue with an initial FF less than 20% as expected, whereas the J-V curves of the conventional cell remain regular shapes throughout the test. This result indicates that the ITO/ZnO interface is a key reason of S-shaped J-V characteristics, which is further verified via the use of Cs2CO3/ZnO ETL. The insert of Cs2CO3 layer isolates the ITO electrode from contacting with ZnO layer, and the kink disappears in the as-prepared device with this bi-layered ETL inverted structure. Our explanation for the result above is that the oxygen impurities absorbed onto the surface of ZnO NPs during fabrication process, behave as strong electron traps, and thus increasing the width of the energy barrier (EB) at the interface of ITO/ZnO. Subsequently, photogenerated electrons accumulate in the ZnO layer adjacent to the interface, resulting in extremely poor performance. Upon white light illumination, however, the trap sites are filled by photogenerated carriers within the ZnO layer, and therefore narrowing the EB. As the barrier width becomes thin enough to be freely tunneled through, a good selectivity behavior of ZnO ETL is reached, leading to a fully remarkable recovery in device performances.