Enhanced Efficiency of PTB7 : PC<sub>61</sub>BM Organic Solar Cells by Adding a Low Efficient Polymer Donor

Farinhas, Joana; Oliveira, Ricardo; Ferreira, Quirina; Morgado, Jorge; Charas, Ana

doi:https://doi.org/10.1155/2017/4501758

International Journal of Photoenergy

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Abstract Introduction Experimental Results and Discussion Conclusions Acknowledgments Supplementary Materials References Copyright Related Articles

Research Article | Open Access

Volume 2017 | Article ID 4501758 | https://doi.org/10.1155/2017/4501758

Enhanced Efficiency of PTB7 : PC₆₁BM Organic Solar Cells by Adding a Low Efficient Polymer Donor

Joana Farinhas,¹Ricardo Oliveira,¹Quirina Ferreira,¹Jorge Morgado,^1,2and Ana Charas¹

Academic Editor: Yulia Galagan

Received16 Sept 2016

Accepted18 Dec 2016

Published11 Jan 2017

Abstract

Ternary blend polymer solar cells combining two electron-donor polymers, poly[4,8-bis[(2-ethylhexyl)oxy]benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b′]dithiophene-2,6-diyl][3-fluoro-2-[(2-ethylhexyl)carbonyl]thieno[3,4-b]thiophenediyl] (PTB7) and poly[2,5-bis(3-dodecylthiophen-2-yl)thieno[3,2-b]thiophene] (pBTTT) and [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PC₆₁BM), as electron-acceptor, were fabricated. The power conversion efficiency of the ternary cells was enhanced by 18%, with respect to the reference binary cells, for a blend composition with 25% (wt%) of pBTTT in the polymers content. The optimized device performance was related to the blend morphology, nonrevealing pBTTT aggregates, and improved charge extraction within the device.

1. Introduction

Polymer photovoltaic cells have demonstrated great potential as a cost-effective energy solar technology with unique characteristics of light weight and mechanical flexibility. In the last decade, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of such cells improved remarkably; however, the highest values are still around 10–12% [1–5]. One of the main causes of the relatively low efficiency of polymer solar cells is incomplete harvesting of solar photons, which is due to the relatively narrow absorption spectrum of the polymer donor and the low absorption of the fullerene acceptor in the visible spectral range. To overcome such limitations, the so-called multidonor solar cells, incorporating multiple organic polymers with different energy gaps and tandem cells [3], have been explored. However, to this respect, multidonor solar cells are the preferred option since they are single cell devices and therefore require a simpler fabrication process than tandem cells.

Typically, ternary bulk heterojunction (BHJ) cells combine a predominant donor : acceptor (D : A) system and a third component whose properties enable to pursuit higher efficiency. Thus, several types of third materials for several tasks have been effectively tested, as high-band gap polymers to enlarge the photon absorption window of the cell [6], dyes to harvest photons at longer wavelengths [7], additives to favour the optimal morphology of the BHJ [8], and cross-linkers to stabilize the device performance [9, 10].

In this work, ternary blends combining the low-band gap polymer donor PTB7 ( of ca. 1.6 eV), the fullerene acceptor PC₆₁BM, and a second polymer donor, pBTTT, were investigated and tested in BHJ solar cells. pBTTT is a semicrystalline polymer exhibiting remarkably high hole mobility ( up to 1 cm²/Vs [11–13]) and absorption spectrum complementary to that of PTB7. For comparison, the reported values for the hole mobility of PTB7 in neat film are several orders of magnitude lower, in the range of 10⁻⁴–10⁻³cm²/Vs, varying with the method of measurement [14–16]. These two properties potentially lead to a superior charge transport and enlarged photon harvesting, respectively, when pBTTT is added to the PTB7 : fullerene active layer. Previously reported studies of photovoltaic (PV) cells based on pBTTT and fullerenes showed poor performances, with maximum PCE values of 1-2% [17–19], probably caused by the high energy gap of pBTTT ( of ca. 1.9 eV). On the contrary, PTB7 is a high performing polymer in solar cells, yielding efficiencies as high as 9.2% with the acceptor PC₇₁BM [20] and ca. 4–6% with PC₆₁BM [21–23]. A few ternary solar cells based on PTB7 with a second donor polymer and PC₇₁BM showed efficiencies that surpassed the reference binary devices [24–29]. Nevertheless, only one work is reported on ternary systems based on PTB7 and PC₆₁BM, this being with poly(3-hexyl)thiophene (P3HT) as the second polymer and exhibiting only 4% in efficiency [30].

Here, five ternary blend compositions were tested, maintaining the polymers : PC₆₁BM weight ratio as 1 : 2, and varying the relative polymer content, PTB7 : pBTTT, from 1 : 9 to 9 : 1 by weight. Reference binary blend cells, PTB7 : PC₆₁BM and pBTTT : PC₆₁BM, were also fabricated and tested. The effect of pBTTT addition on the morphology of the cells’ active layer was investigated by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and fluorescence studies were made to assess the role of pBTTT.

2. Experimental

2.1. Materials and Device Fabrication

pBTTT and PTB7 were purchased from Ossila Ltd. PC₆₁BM (99.55%) was purchased from Solenne BV. The devices were prepared on ITO-coated (100 nm thick) glass substrates (ITO: indium-tin-oxide) previously cleaned sequentially with distilled water and a nonionic detergent, distilled water, acetone, and isopropyl alcohol under ultrasounds. The ITO surface was submitted to UV-oxygen plasma for 3 minutes prior to spin casting poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) : polystyrene sulfonic acid (PEDOT : PSS) from aqueous dispersion (Clevios P VP.AI 4083, from Heraeus). The glass/ITO/PEDOT : PSS substrates were then dried over a hot plate at 125°C for 10 min. The blend solutions for the active layers of the cells were prepared by mixing adequate volumes of separate solutions containing the polymers and PC₆₁BM in 1,2-dichlorobenzene (DCB), in order to achieve polymers : PC₆₁BM mass ratio of 1 : 2. Five blend compositions, with total concentration of 40 mg·mL⁻¹, containing both polymers and PC₆₁BM, were prepared, where PTB7 : pBTTT weight ratio was varied from 9 : 1 to 1 : 9. The starting solutions of the pristine materials had the same concentration and were stirred for 3 h at 75°C. The blend solutions were further stirred for 3 h at 75°C before their deposition by spin coating (1800 rpm, 45 s) on either PEDOT : PSS-coated quartz substrates (for UV-Vis absorption measurements) or ITO/PEDOT : PSS substrates. For comparison purposes, the binary blends solutions were deposited under the same conditions. The thicknesses of the active layers varied from ca. 80 nm (for binary blend films of PTB7 : PC₆₁BM and ternary blend films with 50%, 75%, and 90% of PTB7) to ca. 130 nm (for binary blend films of pBTTT : PC₆₁BM and ternary blend films with 80% and 90% of pBTTT). Following the deposition of the active blends, LiF (1.5 nm) and Al (100 nm) were thermally evaporated on top, under a base pressure of 2 × 10⁻⁶mbar, defining a device area of 0.24 cm².

2.2. Measurements

AFM studies were performed on a Nano Observer from Concept Scientific Instruments (Les Ulis, France), operating in noncontact mode, with cantilevers having a resonance frequency between 200 and 400 kHz and silicon probes with tip radius smaller than 10 nm. All images were obtained with 256 × 256 pixels resolution and processed using Gwyddion (version 2.26) software. UV-Vis absorption spectra were recorded on a Cecil 7200 spectrophotometer. Film thicknesses were measured with a Dektak 6M profilometer. Fluorescence spectra were acquired using a SPEX Fluorolog 212I, collecting the emission at a right angle arrangement in the R/S mode. All fluorescence spectra were corrected for the wavelength response of the instrumental system. The current-voltage () curves of the cells were measured under inert atmosphere (N₂) using a K2400 source-measure unit. The curves under illumination were measured with a solar simulator with 100 mW/cm² AM1.5G illumination (Oriel Sol 3A, 69920, Newport). At least 16 devices of each condition were prepared. The light intensity of the solar simulator was verified using a calibrated solar cell. External quantum efficiency (EQE) spectra were obtained under short-circuit conditions, using a homemade system with a halogen lamp as light source.

3. Results and Discussion

3.1. Photophysical Properties

Figure 1 shows the UV-Visible absorption and photoluminescence spectra of spin cast films of PTB7, pBTTT, and PC₆₁BM on quartz substrates and the relative position of their HOMO and LUMO levels [17, 20, 31] with respect to the work functions of the electrodes of the fabricated cells.

(a)

(b)

(c)

The absorption spectrum of pBTTT shows a band which is blue-shifted (maximum at 535 nm) with respect to the main absorption band of PTB7 (maximum at 675 nm), thus potentially providing complementary photon absorption for the ternary cells comprising the two polymers. Since the emission of pBTTT overlaps the absorption band of PTB7, pBTTT may also sensitize PTB7, via excited state energy transfer. The energy diagram for the ternary cells shows a of energy levels, where several pathways for the charge transfer are energetically favourable: the photoexcited pBTTT may transfer electrons to both fullerene (PC₆₁BM) and PTB7, and the photoexcited PTB7 can transfer electrons to PC₆₁BM. Thus, in other words, both polymers can act as electron-donors with respect to PC₆₁BM, contributing to the charge generation at the pBTTT/PC₆₁BM and PTB7/PC₆₁BM interfaces. However, it is not clear if the small mismatch of 0.2 eV between the LUMO energies of the two polymers is sufficient to promote the dissociation of the excitons generated within pBTTT at its interface with PTB7.

We have carried out photoluminescence studies on films of the ternary blends and also on films of blends composed of the two polymers only. The films were always in the same position in the spectrofluorometer cavity to minimize orientation effects. Films of the PTB7 : pBTTT blends without PC₆₁BM were excited at the pBTTT absorption maximum (ca. 540 nm). The obtained fluorescence spectra showed no evidence of pBTTT emission, being only observed PTB7 fluorescence (see Figure S1 in Supplementary Material available online at https://doi.org/10.1155/2017/4501758). Figure 2 shows the PL spectrum when only 10% of PTB7 is present. The absence of pBTTT emission indicates that excited state energy transfer and/or charge transfer from pBTTT to PTB7, as previewed by the optical properties and the frontier energy levels of the polymers, should effectively contribute to the decay of excitons photogenerated in pBTTT, although the relative importance of the two mechanisms cannot be inferred from these studies. It should be mentioned that PTB7 is also absorbed at 540 nm; thus the recorded emission results from the PTB7 direct excitation and possible energy transfer from pBTTT. We also observe that when PC₆₁BM is added (reproducing the composition of the solar cells active layer) the PTB7 emission is quenched, which should be likely attributed to exciton dissociation at PTB7/PC₆₁BM interface.

3.2. Photovoltaic Cells

The photovoltaic cells had the ITO/PEDOT : PSS/active layer/LiF/Al general structure, where the active layer is made of either the reference binary blends, PTB7 : PC₆₁BM and pBTTT : PC₆₁BM, or the ternary layers based on PTB7 : pBTTT : PC₆₁BM. The cells performance parameters and the representative J-V curves obtained under illumination conditions ( = 100 mW·cm⁻²) are shown in Table 1 and Figure 3, respectively (J-V curves measured under dark conditions are shown in Supplementary Material, Figure S2).

Regarding the pBTTT : PC₆₁BM binary blend devices, the found PCE of 0.57% and of 0.5 V little surpass the reported values (ca. 0.5% and 0.45 V, resp.), while and FF are similar [17]. It should be noted that, according to reported works [18, 19], the blend composition 1 : 2 is not the most efficient one for this system, being the highest performances achieved for the 1 : 4 ratio using either PC₆₁BM or PC₇₁BM. This enhancement in cells performance with higher PCBM content should be related to the presence of relatively pure PCBM phases which provide continuous conductive pathways for the electrons [19]. In this work, the 1 : 4 blend composition was also tested, resulting in devices with PCE of 1.07%, of 0.51 V, of 4.74 mA·cm⁻², and FF of 0.44%. Nevertheless the control devices were based on 1 : 2 blends in order to keep the mass ratio of D : A constant in both binary and ternary devices. Taking PTB7 : PC₆₁BM as the reference system, we find that the partial replacement of PTB7 by pBTTT leads to a decrease in PCE with the exception of the composition 0.75 : 0.25 (PTB7 : pBTTT), which leads to the best performing cell. The reached PCE value (4.73%) corresponds to an improvement of ca. 18% over the binary cells. The maximum PCE obtained, 4.72%, surpasses the reported values for ternary systems based on PTB7 and PC₆₁BM [30]. We also observe that, on the other hand, all ternary cells show higher PCE than the cell based on pBTTT : PC₆₁BM.

Comparing the parameters characterizing the best performing ternary cell with those of the binary cell of PTB7 : PC₆₁BM, we find a slight increase of the short-circuit current. However it is the fill factor that improves significantly (from 0.40 to 0.50). This enlarged FF indicates that charge transport and/or charge collection were improved in the cells. In fact, the calculated values for and for such cell are the most favourable within the series; that is, is maximum and is minimum, thus indicating that recombination pathways for the charges are minimized and charge transport towards the electrodes is facilitated, respectively. The similar values of for the two most efficient cells, the ternary cell with 0.75 : 0.25 : 2 composition, and the binary cell of PTB7 : PC₆₁BM, being 13.17 mA·cm⁻² and 13.25 mA·cm⁻², respectively, suggest that photon-to-charge conversion efficiency was only a little improved. Devices with a content of pBTTT higher than 25% showed the lowest currents and the poorest performances, probably due to energy losses caused by the high energy band gap of pBTTT and its consequent little contribution to photon absorption. Along the series, varies monotonically with the blend composition (except for the 0.2 : 0.8 : 2 case, with a of 0.54 that is slightly lower than the 0.55 V for the 0.10 : 0.90 : 2). The variation of with the blend composition in ternary blend cells has been rationalised in terms of an alloy model in which the donor/acceptor interface and corresponding interface band gap (charge transfer state) display a material averaged electronic structure, due to the delocalized nature of the one electron states [32].

The external quantum efficiency (EQE) spectra of the cells and the UV-Visible absorption spectra obtained for the respective active layers are shown in Figure 4.

(a)

(b)

We observe that the cells with the pBTTT binary blend and with the ternary blends with 90 and 80 wt% of pBTTT exhibit EQE spectra with a maximum at ca. 550 nm and with vibronic structure that mimics the UV-Visible absorption spectra of the respective blends. Such vibronic structure is not evidenced in the neat pBTTT film absorption spectrum (as shown in Figure 2), being likely attributed to ordering effects induced by the intermixing with the fullerene. In particular, several studies have demonstrated that pBTTT and PC₆₁BM in blend films form cocrystals of approximately equal content of polymer and fullerene which result in vibronic resolution in the absorption spectra [33, 34]. The presence of such cocrystals in the 1 : 2 binary blend may justify the lower efficiency of the corresponding cells in comparison with the tested 1 : 4 pBTTT : PC₆₁BM cells, since less percolation pathways for electrons should be formed. The ternary devices with the highest efficiency (0.75 : 0.25 : 2) do not seem to gain significantly from the presence of pBTTT, since its EQE spectrum is very close to that of the binary cells with PTB7 : PC₆₁BM. This result is in agreement with the similar values of obtained for such cells. In fact, it is the fill factor that mainly causes the PCE enhancement with respect to the binary PTB7 : PC₆₁BM cell when pBTTT is 25% of the total of polymers.

In view of the energy band diagram shown in Figure 1, cells with active layers composed of the two polymers only (without PC₆₁BM) were also fabricated in order to evaluate the role of PC₆₁BM in the cells and the importance of charge transfer at pBTTT/PTB7 interfaces. Hence, three types of devices with the ITO/PEDOT : PSS/active layer/LiF/Al structure were fabricated with 0.1 : 0.9, 0.5 : 0.5, or 0.9 : 0.1 (w/w) of PTB7 : pBTTT blends. The J-V curves of the devices, measured under the same conditions of illumination than those used for the ternary blend cells, exhibited values rather low, at the order of 10⁻²mA/cm² (shown in Figure S3 in Supplementary Material). This confirms that PC₆₁BM should be the main acceptor in the fabricated ternary blend cells and also suggests that if exciton dissociation between pBTTT and PTB7 interfaces exists, it should be an inefficient process.

3.3. Morphologic Characterization of Active Blends

Figure 5 shows the AFM topography and phase images of the reference binary blends and of the most efficient cell, with the ternary 0.75 : 0.25 : 2 (PTBT : pBTTT : PC₆₁BM) blend. The AFM images for the other ternary cells are shown in Supplementary Material (Figure S4). The variation of the surface roughness, , for all the seven films, as a function of the blend composition is represented in Figure 5(d).

(a) PTB7 : PC61BM (1 : 2)

(b) pBTTT : PC61BM (1 : 2)

(c) PTB7 : pBTTT : PC61BM (0.75 : 0.25 : 2)

(d)

The binary PTB7 : PC₆₁BM blend shows a smooth and relatively homogeneous surface without evidencing phase segregated domains at the surface. However, the topography image of the binary pBTTT : PC₆₁BM blend reveals a more structured surface and a much higher (ca. 1.37 nm), thus suggesting the presence of segregated domains of one of the materials. Since the corresponding phase image is relatively well homogeneous, such domains should exist within the bulk of the blend film. The AFM images of the ternary blend films with the highest contents of pBTTT (90% and 80%) show also similar domains (see Figure S3). The average dimensions of such segregated domains can be estimated from profile lines acquired from the AFM topographic images (Figure S5 in Supplementary Material). These are at the order of ca. 20 nm, thus indicating a lower degree of mixing between the polymer pBTTT and PCBM in comparison with the PTB7 : PC₆₁BM binary blend films, where, as mentioned, the smooth films’ surface does not evidence aggregates.

The calculated for the various films as a function of the pBTTT content shows that the values increase with the pBTTT content, although a slightly lower value is found when pBTTT is the sole polymer within the blend. We therefore suggest that aggregates of pBTTT have a negative effect on the pBTTT contribution to charge extraction, this leading to the lower fill factors found for the cells with higher pBTTT content. On the other hand, the addition of pBTTT in low contents (up to 50%), leading to rather smooth surfaces, should be related to an increase of the fill factors due to a positive contribution of pBTTT to hole extraction (since pBTTT is a good hole transport polymer) within the active blends. When pBTTT becomes the dominant polymer, FF decreases, a behavior that is accompanied by an increase of the surface roughness. These lower FF values, obtained when pBTTT is 90 or 80%, may be related to the presence of PTB7 in low contents that disrupts the favourable (to charge transport) pBTTT : PCBM phase, containing cocrystals and PCBM extended phases. The above-mentioned observation of vibronic structure on the pBTTT absorption and EQE is also consistent with such ordering in the blends when pBTTT is the dominant polymer.

4. Conclusions

Ternary BHJ solar cells based on PTB7 : pBTTT : PC₆₁BM with improved PCE were demonstrated. The cells characteristics showed an enhancement in PCE for the ternary blends with 25% of pBTTT (wt% in polymers) of ca. 18% comparing with reference binary cells, yielding a PCE of 4.72%. The observed improvement was related to the optimal balance between the two polymers, providing higher FF values, and the absence of aggregates of pBTTT within the ternary blends. Also, according to PL steady state studies, energy and/or charge transfer processes from excited pBTTT to PTB7 should occur in the active layers of the ternary blend cells.

Competing Interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT), under Projects M-ERA.NET/0001/2012 and UID/EEA/50008/2013.

Supplementary Materials

Figure S1 in Supplementary Material compares the photoluminescence spectra of the PTB7:pBTTT:PC61BM ternary films upon excitation at the maximum of absorption of pBTTT and comparison with the PL spectra of corresponding films of the two polymers without PC61BM.

J-V curves for the fabricated cells under dark (Figure S2); J-V curves for the fabricated cells containing PTB7:pBTTT in the active layer under 100 mW.cm-2 (Figure S3); AFM images of PTB7:pBTTT:PC61BM (Figure S4); AFM topography images and profile lines of PTB7:PC61BM and pBTTT:PC61BM blend films (Figure S5).

Supplementary Material

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Copyright © 2017 Joana Farinhas et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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