Investigation of using Polyelectrolytes as an Interlayer on Polymer Solar Cells

A new approach to improve hole extraction anode interfacial layer by introducing polyelectrolytes in polymer solar cells (PSCs). The polyelectrolytes interfacial layer is prepared simply spin-coating on the ITO substrate. Remarkable improvement in the open-circuit voltage(Voc) and short-circuit current density (Jsc) of the PSCs could be achieved upon the introduction of polyelectrolytes anode interfacial layer. To study the effect of polyelectrolytes anode interfacial layer on the device efficiency. The polyelectrolytes are analyzed, exhibited good thermal stability and high transmittance over 85% in visible light region. According to our experiments and measurements, insertion of polyelectrolytes anode interfacial layer can decrease spatial barriers at the active layer/ITO interfaces, planarize the ITO substrate and modify surface of ITO.The PSCs under the optimized structure of ITO/SA8/P3HT:PCBM/LiF/Al exhibited open-circuit voltage of 0.62 V, short-circuit current density of 7.15 mA/cm², fill factor of 54.84%, and power conversion efficiency of 2.43% at AM 1.5G of 100 mW/cm² (paper)