Optimal construction parameters of electrosprayed trilayer organic photovoltaic devices

A detailed investigation of the optimal set of parameters employed in multilayer device fabrication obtained through successive electrospray deposited layers is reported. In this scheme, the donor/acceptor (D/A) bulk heterojunction layer is sandwiched between two thin stacked layers of individual donor and acceptor materials. The stacked layers geometry with optimal thicknesses plays a decisive role in improving operation characteristics. Among the parameters of the multilayer organic photovoltaics device, the D/A concentration ratio, blend thickness and stacking layers thicknesses are optimized. Other parameters, such as thermal annealing and the role of top metal contacts, are also discussed. Internal photon to current efficiency is found to attain a strong response in the 500 nm optical region for the most efficient device architectures. Such an observation indicates a clear interplay between photon harvesting of active layers and transport by ancillary stacking layers, opening up the possibility to engineer both the material fine structure and the device architecture to obtain the best photovoltaic response from a complex organic heterostructure. (paper)