An Efficient, Stable, PEDOT:PSS-Free Tandem Polymer Solar Cells with Self-Doped Conducting Polymers

Jinho Lee1,  Hongkyu Kang1,  Seyoung Kee1,  Seoung Ho Lee1,  Song Yi Jeong1,  Geunjin Kim1,  Junghwan Kim2,  Soonil Hong2,  Hyungcheol Back2
1Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, 2


Abstract

Currently, most tandem polymer solar cells (PSCs) suffer from poor device stability and drastic efficiency degradation, which originate from the use of acidic recombination layers (RLs) based on the well-known PEDOT:PSS (poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate)). Our work describes a novel and efficient tandem architecture with an extended long-term stability. We introduce new pH-neutral material systems (i.e., self-doped conducting polymer and conjugated polyelectrolyte) that have not been incorporated as a RL in tandem solar cells previously, replacing PEDOT:PSS. In addition, we devise an innovative versatile composite system containing photoactive and interfacial materials into the tandem fabrication of an ideal self-organized recombination layer with outstanding features, including high optical transparency, low vertical resistance, and favorable ohmic contacts for each surface. These layers lead not only to performance enhancement through a perfect series connection for two sub-cells with no concomitant performance losses but also to structure simplification of the tandem devices via the self-assembly of the recombination layer. As a consequence, we demonstrate efficient and simplified tandem cells that are composed of five component layers without using PEDOT:PSS and exhibit a high power conversion efficiency of 10.2% with an extremely prolonged long-term stability compared with existing six-layered tandem cells using PEDOT:PSS.