Planar Organic Bilayer Heterojunctions Fabricated on Water with Ultrafast Donor-to-Acceptor Charge Transfer

Herein, planar heterojunctions comprising a nonfullerene small molecular acceptor (NFA) and a polymer donor are demonstrated by transferring polymer films on a water surface on top of NFA layers. So far, most solution-processed layer-by-layer architectures have been reported as sequentially deposited bulk heterojunctions or pseudo-bilayers because mixed regions at the donor/acceptor interface are inevitable in these methods. By virtue of the unique properties of conjugated polymers such as hydrophobicity and spontaneous film formation on a water surface, the fabrication of NFA/polymer bilayer nanostructures is clearly demonstrated by dramatically simplified methods. These bilayers are successfully rendered into bilayer organic solar cells achieving a power conversion efficiency of up to 7.47%. This reflects that these bilayers have appropriate morphological and optoelectrical properties to be operated as photoactive layers in photovoltaic devices. Further, ultrafast charge transfer from the polymer donor to the NFA and fast carrier mobility are investigated by transient-absorption spectroscopy and photoinduced charge-extraction measurements. Fast carrier dynamics are observed, which are essential for the efficient harvest of excitons in photovoltaic devices. It is believed that the formation of planar heterojunctions on water can offer technical diversity for the fabrication methods of the photovoltaic devices.

Automated summary

This study demonstrates the fabrication of planar heterojunctions by transferring polymer films on a water surface on top of nonfullerene small molecular acceptor (NFA) layers, resulting in bilayer organic solar cells with high power conversion efficiency. The ultrafast charge transfer from the polymer donor to the NFA and fast carrier dynamics observed in these bilayers are essential for efficient exciton harvest in photovoltaic devices. The unique properties of conjugated polymers, such as hydrophobicity and spontaneous film formation on water, offer technical diversity for the fabrication methods of photovoltaic devices.