Performance improvement of DBP-based solar cells by introducing a luminescent sensitizer bis[(4,6-difluorophenyl)-pyridinato-N,C2′]c(picolinate)iridium(III) (FIrpic)

Jie TANG, Weiguang LI, Juncong CHEN, Yanqiong ZHENG, Junbiao PENG, Jianhua ZHANG, Bin WEI, Xifeng LI

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Front. Mater. Sci. ›› 2021, Vol. 15 ›› Issue (1) : 158-165. DOI: 10.1007/s11706-021-0533-0
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Performance improvement of DBP-based solar cells by introducing a luminescent sensitizer bis[(4,6-difluorophenyl)-pyridinato-N,C2′]c(picolinate)iridium(III) (FIrpic)

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Abstract

In this work, a sky-blue luminescent down-shifting (LDS) layer bis[(4,6-difluorophenyl)-pyridinato-N,C2′]c(picolinate)iridium(III) (FIrpic) was inserted between tetraphenyldibenzoperiflanthene (DBP) and MoO3 as UV-screen and sensitizer for small molecule DBP/C60 based planar heterojunction (PHJ) solar cells. With 8-nm FIrpic the short circuit current (Jsc) and power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the device are enhanced by 28% and 15%, respectively, probably originating from the re-absorption of the photons emitted from FIrpic. The Voc linearly increases over 1-nm FIrpic, ascribed to the deeper HOMO level of FIrpic than DBP, while the fill factor continuously declines from 3- to 10-nm FIrpic. The EQE spectra prove that the Jsc is mainly contributed by the photocurrent generated in DBP and C60 layers. When the FIrpic thickness is 8 nm, the film surface is very uniform with the smallest water contact angle. The impedance spectroscopy demonstrates that the device resistance gradually increases from 4.1×104 W (without FIrpic) to 4.6×104 W (with 10-nm FIrpic) with the FIrpic thickness rise, simultaneously the device transits from the insulating state into the conductive state faster for the thin FIrpic layer than the thick layer.

Keywords

small molecule solar cell / sky-blue luminescent sensitizer / UV-screen / FIrpic / DBP

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Jie TANG, Weiguang LI, Juncong CHEN, Yanqiong ZHENG, Junbiao PENG, Jianhua ZHANG, Bin WEI, Xifeng LI. Performance improvement of DBP-based solar cells by introducing a luminescent sensitizer bis[(4,6-difluorophenyl)-pyridinato-N,C2′]c(picolinate)iridium(III) (FIrpic). Front. Mater. Sci., 2021, 15(1): 158‒165 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11706-021-0533-0

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 61674101 and 61504077), and the Open Fund of State Key Laboratory of Luminescent Materials and Devices (South China University of Technology), China. The authors thank beamline BL14B1 (Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility) for providing beam time and help during experiments.

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2021 Higher Education Press
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