Self-assembled monolayer enables hole transport layer-free organic solar cells with 18% efficiency and improved operational stability

Yuanbao Lin; Yuliar Firdaus; Furkan H. Isikgor; Mohamad Insan Nugraha; Emre Yengel; George T. Harrison; Rawad Hallani; Abdulrahman El-Labban; Hendrik Faber; Chun Ma; Xiaopeng Zheng; Anand Subbiah; Calvyn T. Howells; Osman M. Bakr; Iain McCulloch; Stefaan De Wolf; Leonidas Tsetseris; Thomas D. Anthopoulos

doi:10.1021/acsenergylett.0c01421

Self-assembled monolayer enables hole transport layer-free organic solar cells with 18% efficiency and improved operational stability

Yuanbao Lin, Yuliar Firdaus, Furkan H. Isikgor, Mohamad Insan Nugraha, Emre Yengel, George T. Harrison, Rawad Hallani, Abdulrahman El-Labban, Hendrik Faber, Chun Ma, Xiaopeng Zheng, Anand Subbiah, Calvyn T. Howells, Osman M. Bakr, Iain McCulloch, Stefaan De Wolf, Leonidas Tsetseris, Thomas D. Anthopoulos

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Abstract

We report on bulk-heterojunction (BHJ) organic photovoltaics (OPVs) based on the self-assembled monolayer (SAM) 2PACz as a hole-selective interlayer functionalized directly onto the indium tin oxide (ITO) anode. The 2PACz is found to change the work function of ITO while simultaneously affecting the morphology of the BHJ deposited atop. Cells with PM6:N3 BHJ and ITO-2PACz anode exhibit a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 16.6%, which is greater than that measured for bare ITO (6.45%) and ITO/PEDOT:PSS (15.94%) based devices. The enhanced performance is attributed to lower contact-resistance, reduced bimolecular recombination losses, and improved charge transport within the BHJ. Importantly, the ITO-2PACz-based OPVs show dramatically improved operational stability when compared with PEDOT:PSS-based cells. When the ITO-2PACz anode is combined with the ternary PM6:BTP-eC9:PC71BM BHJ, the resulting cells exhibit a maximum PCE of 18.03%, highlighting the potential of engineered SAMs for use in hole-selective contacts in high-performance OPVs.

Original language	British English
Pages (from-to)	2935-2944
Number of pages	10
Journal	ACS Energy Letters
Volume	5
Issue number	9
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenergylett.0c01421
State	Published - 11 Sep 2020

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Lin, Y., Firdaus, Y., Isikgor, F. H., Nugraha, M. I., Yengel, E., Harrison, G. T., Hallani, R., El-Labban, A., Faber, H., Ma, C., Zheng, X., Subbiah, A., Howells, C. T., Bakr, O. M., McCulloch, I., Wolf, S. D., Tsetseris, L., & Anthopoulos, T. D. (2020). Self-assembled monolayer enables hole transport layer-free organic solar cells with 18% efficiency and improved operational stability. ACS Energy Letters, 5(9), 2935-2944. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenergylett.0c01421

@article{320056684a6e482b8f85b6a2499495ac,

title = "Self-assembled monolayer enables hole transport layer-free organic solar cells with 18% efficiency and improved operational stability",

abstract = "We report on bulk-heterojunction (BHJ) organic photovoltaics (OPVs) based on the self-assembled monolayer (SAM) 2PACz as a hole-selective interlayer functionalized directly onto the indium tin oxide (ITO) anode. The 2PACz is found to change the work function of ITO while simultaneously affecting the morphology of the BHJ deposited atop. Cells with PM6:N3 BHJ and ITO-2PACz anode exhibit a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 16.6%, which is greater than that measured for bare ITO (6.45%) and ITO/PEDOT:PSS (15.94%) based devices. The enhanced performance is attributed to lower contact-resistance, reduced bimolecular recombination losses, and improved charge transport within the BHJ. Importantly, the ITO-2PACz-based OPVs show dramatically improved operational stability when compared with PEDOT:PSS-based cells. When the ITO-2PACz anode is combined with the ternary PM6:BTP-eC9:PC71BM BHJ, the resulting cells exhibit a maximum PCE of 18.03%, highlighting the potential of engineered SAMs for use in hole-selective contacts in high-performance OPVs.",

author = "Yuanbao Lin and Yuliar Firdaus and Isikgor, {Furkan H.} and Nugraha, {Mohamad Insan} and Emre Yengel and Harrison, {George T.} and Rawad Hallani and Abdulrahman El-Labban and Hendrik Faber and Chun Ma and Xiaopeng Zheng and Anand Subbiah and Howells, {Calvyn T.} and Bakr, {Osman M.} and Iain McCulloch and Wolf, {Stefaan De} and Leonidas Tsetseris and Anthopoulos, {Thomas D.}",

note = "Funding Information: This publication is based upon work supported by the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) Office of Sponsored Research (OSR) under Award No. OSR-2018-CARF/CCF-3079. L.T. acknowledges support for the computational time granted from GRNET in the National HPC facility -ARIS - under project SPOx. Publisher Copyright: Copyright {\textcopyright} 2020 American Chemical Society.",

year = "2020",

month = sep,

day = "11",

doi = "10.1021/acsenergylett.0c01421",

language = "British English",

volume = "5",

pages = "2935--2944",

journal = "ACS Energy Letters",

issn = "2380-8195",

publisher = "American Chemical Society",

number = "9",

}

Lin, Y, Firdaus, Y, Isikgor, FH, Nugraha, MI, Yengel, E, Harrison, GT, Hallani, R, El-Labban, A, Faber, H, Ma, C, Zheng, X, Subbiah, A, Howells, CT, Bakr, OM, McCulloch, I, Wolf, SD, Tsetseris, L & Anthopoulos, TD 2020, 'Self-assembled monolayer enables hole transport layer-free organic solar cells with 18% efficiency and improved operational stability', ACS Energy Letters, vol. 5, no. 9, pp. 2935-2944. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenergylett.0c01421

TY - JOUR

T1 - Self-assembled monolayer enables hole transport layer-free organic solar cells with 18% efficiency and improved operational stability

AU - Lin, Yuanbao

AU - Firdaus, Yuliar

AU - Isikgor, Furkan H.

AU - Nugraha, Mohamad Insan

AU - Yengel, Emre

AU - Harrison, George T.

AU - Hallani, Rawad

AU - El-Labban, Abdulrahman

AU - Faber, Hendrik

AU - Ma, Chun

AU - Zheng, Xiaopeng

AU - Subbiah, Anand

AU - Howells, Calvyn T.

AU - Bakr, Osman M.

AU - McCulloch, Iain

AU - Wolf, Stefaan De

AU - Tsetseris, Leonidas

AU - Anthopoulos, Thomas D.

N1 - Funding Information: This publication is based upon work supported by the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) Office of Sponsored Research (OSR) under Award No. OSR-2018-CARF/CCF-3079. L.T. acknowledges support for the computational time granted from GRNET in the National HPC facility -ARIS - under project SPOx. Publisher Copyright: Copyright © 2020 American Chemical Society.

PY - 2020/9/11

Y1 - 2020/9/11

N2 - We report on bulk-heterojunction (BHJ) organic photovoltaics (OPVs) based on the self-assembled monolayer (SAM) 2PACz as a hole-selective interlayer functionalized directly onto the indium tin oxide (ITO) anode. The 2PACz is found to change the work function of ITO while simultaneously affecting the morphology of the BHJ deposited atop. Cells with PM6:N3 BHJ and ITO-2PACz anode exhibit a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 16.6%, which is greater than that measured for bare ITO (6.45%) and ITO/PEDOT:PSS (15.94%) based devices. The enhanced performance is attributed to lower contact-resistance, reduced bimolecular recombination losses, and improved charge transport within the BHJ. Importantly, the ITO-2PACz-based OPVs show dramatically improved operational stability when compared with PEDOT:PSS-based cells. When the ITO-2PACz anode is combined with the ternary PM6:BTP-eC9:PC71BM BHJ, the resulting cells exhibit a maximum PCE of 18.03%, highlighting the potential of engineered SAMs for use in hole-selective contacts in high-performance OPVs.

AB - We report on bulk-heterojunction (BHJ) organic photovoltaics (OPVs) based on the self-assembled monolayer (SAM) 2PACz as a hole-selective interlayer functionalized directly onto the indium tin oxide (ITO) anode. The 2PACz is found to change the work function of ITO while simultaneously affecting the morphology of the BHJ deposited atop. Cells with PM6:N3 BHJ and ITO-2PACz anode exhibit a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 16.6%, which is greater than that measured for bare ITO (6.45%) and ITO/PEDOT:PSS (15.94%) based devices. The enhanced performance is attributed to lower contact-resistance, reduced bimolecular recombination losses, and improved charge transport within the BHJ. Importantly, the ITO-2PACz-based OPVs show dramatically improved operational stability when compared with PEDOT:PSS-based cells. When the ITO-2PACz anode is combined with the ternary PM6:BTP-eC9:PC71BM BHJ, the resulting cells exhibit a maximum PCE of 18.03%, highlighting the potential of engineered SAMs for use in hole-selective contacts in high-performance OPVs.

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U2 - 10.1021/acsenergylett.0c01421

DO - 10.1021/acsenergylett.0c01421

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85091227295

SN - 2380-8195

VL - 5

SP - 2935

EP - 2944

JO - ACS Energy Letters

JF - ACS Energy Letters

IS - 9

ER -

Self-assembled monolayer enables hole transport layer-free organic solar cells with 18% efficiency and improved operational stability

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