Germanium nanoparticles film as a room-temperature electron transport layer for organic solar cells

The performances of the organic solar cells (OSCs) largely depends on the selection and preparation of the electron transport layer (ETL). In this paper, the uniform and compact Ge nanoparticles (NPs) film was fabricated by using the plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) method at room temperature. The Ge NPs film is formed by close packing of amorphous Ge particles with an average diameter of 6.05 nm, and the film shows a fairly smooth surface with a root-mean-square (RMS) roughness of 0.6419 nm. The results shows that Ge NPs film exhibits n-type characteristics, and the longitudinal conductivity of the film is 1.90 x 10(-5) S/cm, which is better than that of the ZnO NPs film. The excellent longitudinal charge transport characteristics is attributed to the existence of the columnar structures in the Ge NPs. In addition, the Ge NPs film shows a visible light transmittance comparable to that of the ZnO NPs film. More importantly, the energy levels of the Ge NPs film meets the requirements of the PTB7:PC70BM OSCs for the ETL, and the devices with the Ge NPs ETL shows the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 7.38%. The characteristic of mom temperature preparation make the Ge NPs ETL may become a reliable choice for the flexible devices in the near future.

Automated summary

This study fabricated a uniform and compact Ge nanoparticles film using the PECVD method at room temperature, showing superior n-type characteristics and longitudinal conductivity. The columnar structures in the Ge NPs film contribute to its excellent charge transport characteristics, and the energy levels of the film meet the requirements of organic solar cells for the ETL.