Developing Efficient Charge-Selective Interfacial Materials for Polymer and Perovskite Solar Cells

Abstract

This research projects combines highly conductive and robust ETL, HTL and fullerene self-assemble monolayer (SAM) in order to establish a very solid material foundation for enabling the fabrication of multi-junction organic and perovskite solar cells to reach high efficiency, low-cost, and good stability. To gain insights in these material and device development, advanced X-ray and ultrafast spectroscopy are being utilized to probe local carrier dynamics under working conditions such as varied carrier densities and electric fields. By applying these tailored interfacial materials and advanced probing methods to both organic and perovskite active layers, the research team has gained a better understanding of the sought-after connections between molecular structure and performance necessary to reach theoretical efficiency limits. New electron transporting material (ETM), hole-transporting material (HTM), and self-assemble monolayer (SAMs) are being developed and optimized to meet criteria for organic/perovskite hybrid PVs: i) having the ability to promote Ohmic contact between the electrodes and the active layer; ii)possessing sufficient conductivity and proper energy levels for efficient charge transport and selectivity to reduce resistive loss; iii) having large bandgap to confine excitons in the active layer and low absorption in Vis-NIR to minimize optical loss; iv) possessing proper surface energy to guide the morphology evolution of active layer; (vi) having robustness to support multilayer solution processing. A systematic molecular engineering of these organic/hybrid components is being conducted to tune their electronic/optical properties to enable the fabrication of highly efficient single- and multi-junction organic/hybrid solar cells.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 25, 2016
Accession Number
AD1033092

Entities

People

  • Alex K. Jen

Organizations

  • University of Washington

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Advanced Electronics

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force Research Laboratories
  • Chemistry
  • Electrical Conductivity
  • Energy Bands
  • Fermi Levels
  • Field Effect Transistors
  • Materials
  • Materials Science
  • Optical Properties
  • Optoelectronics
  • Polymer Solar Cells
  • Quantum Efficiency
  • Self Assembled Monolayers
  • Semiconductors
  • Solar Cells
  • Solar Energy
  • Solid State Physics

Fields of Study

  • Materials science

Readers

  • Quantum Dot Semiconductor Device Photonics and Graphene Optoelectronic Materials and THz Physics.
  • Solar Photovoltaics and Thermoelectric Devices.
  • Systems Analysis and Design

Technology Areas

  • Microelectronics