Effect of TiO2 modification with amino-based self-assembled monolayer on inverted organic solar cell

The effects of surface modification of titanium dioxide (TiO2) on the performance of inverted type organic solar cells (i-OSCs) was investigated in this study. A series of benzoic acid derivatized self-assembled monolayer (SAM) molecules of 4'-[(hexyloxy) phenyl] amino-3,5-biphenyl dicarboxylic acid (CT17) and 4'-[1-naphthyl (phenyl) amino] biphenyl-4-carboxylic acid (CT19) were utilized to modify the interface between TiO2 buffer layer and poly-3 hexylthiophene (P3HT):[ 6,6]-phenyl C-61 butyric acid methyl ester (PC61BM) active layer having the device structure of ITO/TiO2/SAM/P3HT:PC61BM/MoO3/Ag. The work function and surface wetting properties of TiO2 buffer layer served as electron transporting layer between ITO and PC61BM active layer were tuned by SAM method. The solar cell of the SAM modified devices exhibited better performance. The power conversion efficiency (PCE) of i-OSCs devices with bare TiO2 electrodes enhanced from 2.00% to 2.21% and 2.43% with CT17 and CT19 treated TiO2 electrodes, respectively. The open circuit voltage (V-oc) of the SAM treated TiO2 devices reached to 0.60 V and 0.61 V, respectively, while the V-oc of untreated TiO2 was 0.57 V. The water contact angle of i-OSCs with CT17 and CT19 SAMs was also higher than the value of the unmodified TiO2 electrode. These results show that inserting a monolayer at the interface between organic and inorganic layers is an useful alternative method to improve the performance of i-OSCs. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.