Investigation of electron transport properties in Li2CO3-doped Bepp2 thin films

The admittance spectroscopy investigations showed that doping lithium carbonate (Li₂CO₃) into bis[2-(2-hydroxyphenyl)-pyridine] beryllium (Bepp₂) greatly improved the electron mobility compared with the pure Bepp₂ film. The electron mobility reaches the orders of ∼10⁻⁴ cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹, almost independent of the electric field. The trap states at low frequencies were clearly observed by capacitance–frequency measurement. The current–voltage and current–thickness characteristics indicated the electron conduction of space-charge-limited current (SCLC) with discrete trap distributions in the intermediate voltage and the SCLC with exponential trap distribution at the higher voltage in the Li₂CO₃-doped Bepp₂ film. We further estimated the density of trap states to be about 4.54 × 10¹⁷ cm⁻³ by the temperature dependent current density characteristics. The investigation of ultraviolet photoemission spectroscopy (UPS) and X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) found that there occurs complicated chemical reaction between Bepp₂ and Li₂CO₃, and the Bepp₂ traps more electrons after Li₂CO₃ doping. This is an effective charge transfer between Bepp₂ and Li₂CO₃, which greatly reduces the electron injection barrier and significantly enhances the electron mobility.     

Thermally stable inverted organic light-emitting diodes using Ag-doped 4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline as an electron injection layer

The thermal stability of organic functional materials affects the performance and lifetime of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). We have developed a thermally stable inverted OLEDs (IOLEDs) by employing silver (Ag) doped into 4,7-diphenyl-1,10-phenanthroline (Bphen) as an n-type doped electron injection layer (EIL). We found that the formation of Ag complexes by coordination reaction could enhance the thermal stability and produce an asymmetric diffraction pattern based on an analysis of grazing incidence small angle X-ray scattering. Interestingly, with the annealing temperature increasing to 100 °C, the electrical properties of electron-only cells show differentiated phenomenon that the current density based on Ag dopant remains basically unchanged, which is opposite to Cs₂CO₃ dopant. In addition, at the high temperature of 100 °C, the IOLEDs with Cs₂CO₃ doped Bphen as an EIL was damaged completely, while the Ag dopant-based devices still maintained good photoelectrical characteristics. Finally, we have demonstrated that the optimized IOLEDs achieved a 40.3% enhancement in current efficiency compared to the conventional device. This work provides a new strategy to increase the thermal stability and performance for the application of IOLEDs operated under high temperature.     

Properties of ZnO thin films through percolation model

Through the use of percolation method, a study on electrical transport properties of polycrystalline ZnO material is realized as an electric field or a temperature gradient is acting on the sample. This treatment is made taking into account the non-equilibrium quantum transport domain through the usage of Boltzmann equation. In this study the distribution function is calculated by means of an approximation method which is of low order; then electrical conductivity is determined as a thermoelectric coefficient.     

Computer simulation of transport in thin films

The effect of microstructure on the electrical transport behavior of polycrystalline ma-terials has been investigated by means of both experiment and computer simulation. The experiment was carried out by measuring the resistances of model thin film mi-crostructures. It was found that the topology of the microstructure significantly influ-ences the transport characteristics. The results were compared to the prediction of the current analytical theory (Brick-Layer model), and observed to be in significant dis-agreement. To overcome the limitation of this analytical theory, a computational meth-odology was developed to simulate the steady-state electrical transport. Comparison of the simulation results with the experiments shows good agreement. In investigating the transport behavior of polycrystalline films having grain boundary of high resistance, grain size and morphology are found to have two effects on the conduction process. First, they can lead to an increase in the length of the equipotential contours due to the fact that they follow the preexisting grain boundary. Second, the large grains can serve to shunt the flux pass adjacient smaller grains. Both of these effects lead to a decrease in the total resistance as the microstructure departs from a regular Brick-Layer type struc-ture.     

Manipulating the LUMO distribution of quinoxaline-containing architectures to design electron transport materials: Efficient blue phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes

A series of new quinoxaline-containing compounds, namely, 2,3,6,7-tetrakis(3-(pyridin-3-yl)phenyl)quinoxaline (Tm3PyQ), 2,3,6,7-tetrakis(3-(pyridin-4-yl)phenyl)quinoxaline (Tm4PyQ), 1,4-bis(2,3-dimethyl-7-(pyridin-3-yl)quinoxalin-6-yl)benzene (3PyDQB), and 1,4-bis(2,3-dimethyl-7-(pyridin-4-yl)quinoxalin-6-yl)benzene (4PyDQB) were designed and synthesized as electronic transporting materials. The lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) distributions of these compounds vary with the locations of quinoxaline moieties, which result in adjustable intermolecular charge-transfer integrals. All the compounds exhibit favorable electron affinity (2.73–2.88 eV) and good thermostability (glass transition temperatures in the range of 112–148 °C). Using these compounds as electron transport layers, the bis(4,6-(difluorophenyl)pyridinato-N,C^2′)picolinate iridium(Ⅲ) (Firpic)-based blue phosphorescent organic light emitting diodes (PhOLEDs) achieve good performances with a maximum current efficiency (η_c,max) of 30.2 cd A⁻¹ and a maximum external quantum efficiency (η_ext,max) of 14.2%. Moreover, these efficiencies reveal small roll-offs at high luminance.     

Morphological and electrical characterization of SixCryCzBv thin films

Si_xCr_yC_zB_v thin films with several compositions have been studied for integration of high precision resistors in 0.8 μm BICMOS technology. These resistors, integrated in the back-end of line, have the advantage to provide high level of integration and attractive electrical behavior in temperature, for analog devices. The film morphology and the structure have been investigated through transmission electron microscopy analysis and have been then related to the electrical properties on the base of the percolation theory. According to this theory, and in agreement with experimental results, negative thermal coefficient of resistance (TCR) has been obtained for samples with low Cr content, corresponding to a crystalline volume fraction below the percolation threshold.Samples with higher Cr content exhibit, instead, a variation of the TCR as a function of film thickness: negative TCR values are obtained for thickness lower than 5 nm, corresponding to a crystalline volume fraction below the percolation threshold; positive TCR are obtained for larger thickness, indicating the establishment of a continuous conductive path between the Cr rich grains. This property seems to be determinant in order to assure the possibility to obtain thin film resistors almost independent on the temperature.     

Temperature and field-dependence of hopping conduction in organic semiconductors

Electrical characteristics of the hopping transport in organic semiconductors are studied theoretically. Based on percolation theory of hopping between localized states, an analytical mobility model is obtained. This model is applied to the analysis of both the electric field dependence and the temperature dependence of the mobility. The results agree quantitatively with recent experimental data.     

Isopropanol-treated PEDOT:PSS as electron transport layer in polymer solar cells

Isopropanol (IPA)-treated poly(3,4-ethylenedioxithiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) was applied as a new electron transport layer (ETL) in P3HT:PCBM bulk heterojunction polymer solar cell (BHJ-PSC) devices for the first time, revealing the electron transport property of IPA-treated PEDOT:PSS in sharp contrast to the well known hole transport property of the untreated PEDOT:PSS. Under the optimized condition for incorporating PEDOT:PSS ETL, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the ITO/untreated PEDOT:PSS (HTL)/P3HT:PCBM/IPA-treated PEDOT:PSS (ETL)/Al device (3.09%) is quite comparable to that of the reference ITO/untreated PEDOT:PSS (HTL)/P3HT:PCBM/Al device without any ETL (3.06%), and an annealing treatment of PEDOT:PSS ETL at 120 °C for 10 min led to a PCE of 3.25%, which even slightly surpasses that of the reference device, revealing the electron transport property of IPA-treated PEDOT:PSS. The electron transport property of IPA-treated PEDOT:PSS is interpreted by the lowering of the work function of PEDOT:PSS upon IPA treatment and incorporation as ETL as probed by scanning Kelvin probe microscopy (SKPM).     

All-solid solar cells with hybrid perovskite absorbers and graphene electron transport layers

This work reports the perovskite/titanium dioxide (TiO₂)heterojunction solid state solar cells (SSSCs) with a hole transport material (HTM) and graphene electron transport layer. The effects of a nanostructure CH₃NH₃PbI₃ perovskite thin film, the HTM, and graphene electron transport layer in SSSC structure were examined. The SSSCs prepared with the optimal parameter exhibited a short-circuit current density (J_SC), open-circuit voltage (V_OC), and power conversion efficiency (η) of 17.89 mA/cm², 0.89 V, and 6.91%, respectively. Obvious improvements in power conversion efficiency of the SSSCs were observed by using the HTM and graphene electron transport layer. The HTM and graphene thin films provide a great hole and electron transfer channel for the photogenerated carriers to external circuit, respectively.     

Bright green organic light-emitting devices having a composite electron transport layer

A bright green organic light-emitting device employing a co-deposited Al-Alq₃ layer has been fabricated. The device structure is glass/indium tin oxide (ITO)/ N, N′-diphenyl-N, N′- (3-methylphenyl)-1, 1′-biphenyl-4, 4′-diamine (TPD)/tris(8-quinolinolato) aluminum (Alq₃)/ Al-Alq₃/Al. In this device, Al-Alq₃ is used as electron transport layer (ETL). The device shows an operation voltage of 6.1 V at 20 mA/cm². At optimal condition, the brightness of a device at 20 mA/cm² is 2195 cd/m² achieved a luminance efficiency of 5.64lm/W. The result proves that the composite Al-Alq₃ layer is suitable for the ETL of organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs).     

Designing a solution-processable electron transport layer for transparent organic light-emitting diode

In this work, the extensively used opaque metal cathodes of the conventionally structured OLEDs were replaced with the widely used transparent electrode indium tin oxide (ITO) for solution-processed transparent organic light-emitting diode (T-OLED). A new solution-processable electron transport layer (ETL), aside from facilitating the efficient injection of electrons into the T-OLED, protected the organic emission layer (EML) of the T-OLED against the plasma damage during top ITO cathode sputter deposition. The newly designed solution-processed ETL was the composite of the zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs), and cesium carbonate-doped ethoxylated polyethyleneimine (d-PEIE) with the semi-hydrophilic poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) interlayer coated on the EML insured the good wettability and contact of the hydrophilic ETL with the hydrophobic EML. The solution-processed T-OLED emitted the total maximum luminance of about 2417 cd/m² (bottom side emission at 1455 cd/m² and top emission at 962 cd/m²), total maximum current efficiency at 3.12 cd/A (bottom and top emissions at about 1.78 and 1.34 cd/A, respectively), and total maximum power efficiency at 1.64 l m/W (bottom and top emissions at about 0.95 and 0.69 l m/W, respectively) while having a very high optical transmittance of around 85% at 550 nm light wavelength.     

Growth and molarity effects on properties of alumina thin films obtained by spray pyrolysis

Various and versatile applications of alumina in materials science and engineering specially in semiconductor and energy conversion technology encouraged us to prepare and investigate its physical properties as much as possible. Hence, after depositing of alumina thin films on glass substrates by a spray pyrolysis technique, structural, morphological, and optical properties of the films were investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and UV–visible spectrophotometry. Different optical quantities, such as optical band gap, refractive index and extinction coefficient, were determined in this article for different molarities (from 0.10 M to 0.25 M) at two specific substrate temperatures (250 °C and 500 °C). XRD results showed the prevailing amorphous phase in all samples as expected, whereas SEM, XPS, and FTIR presented the presence of molarity effects on alumina properties. Decrease of optical transmittance with molarity increase was notable. Using the transmittance data other optical quantities were obtained by a numerical approximation method.     

TBP precursor agent passivated ZnO electron transport layer for highly efficient polymer solar cells

Defects passivation in electron transport layer (ETL) is a key issue to optimize the performance of polymer solar cells (PSCs). In this work, a novel strategy is developed to form defects passivated ZnO ETL by introducing 4-tert-butylpyridine (TBP) agent into precursor. While the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the inverted PSCs based poly{4,8-bis [(2-ethylhexyl)oxy]benzo [1,2-b:4,5-b']dithiophene-2,6-diyl-alt-3-fluoro-2-[(2-ethylhexyl)carbonyl]thieno [3,4-b]thiophene-4,6-diyl}:[6,6]-phenyl C71-butyric acid methyl ester (PTB7:PC₇₁BM) with the pure ZnO ETL is 8.02%, that of the device with modified ZnO ETL is dramatically improved to 10.26%, with TBP accounting for ~28% efficiency improvement. Our study demonstrates that the precursor agent significantly affect the surface morphology and size of ZnO in ETL. Furthermore, it proves that the ZnO ETL with TBP (T-ZnO) is beneficial to polish interfacial contact between ETL and active layer and depress exciton quenching loss, resulting in enhanced exciton dissociation, efficient carrier collection and reduced charge recombination, thus improving the device performance. To verify the universality of T-ZnO ETL, the champion photovoltaic performance with a PCE of 11.74% (10% improvement) is obtained in the PBDB-T-2F:IT-4F based nonfullerene PSCs using T-ZnO as ETL. Our work developed a new, universal and facile strategy for designing highly efficient PSCs based on fullerene and nonfullerene blend systems.     

Room temperature solution-processed electron transport layer for organic solar cells

We present a new recipe for a solution-processed titanium oxide (TiO_x) based electron transport layer at room temperature. Due to its high chemical compatibility with all types of organic blends (semi-crystalline or amorphous) and it is good adhesion to both surfaces of glass/ITO substrate and the active layer (blend), the buffer layer is suitable for use in organic solar cell devices with conventional, inverted or multi-junction structures. The main goal of this recipe is producing with easiness an repeatable and stable precursor that will leads to titanium oxide buffer layer each time with the same quality. Since the processing of the titanium oxide layer itself does not require any initial or additional treatment before and after the coating, and can even be carried in air as well as under protective atmosphere, our room temperature solution-processed electron transport layer is highly versatile and very promising for cost effective mass production of organic solar cells.     

Fabrication and characterisation of high quality ZnO thin films by reactive electron beam evaporation technique

High quality zinc oxide thin films have been deposited on silicon substrates by reactive e-beam evaporation in an oxygen environment. The effect of the growth temperature and air annealing on the structural, optical and electrical properties has been investigated. X-ray diffraction measurements have shown that ZnO films are highly c-axis-oriented and that the linewidth of the (002) peak is sensitive to the variation of substrate temperature. The optimum growth temperature has been observed at 300 °C. Raman spectroscopy has been found to be an efficient tool to evaluate the residual stress in the as-grown ZnO films from the position of the E₂ (high) mode. On the other hand, the vanishing of the 574 cm⁻¹. Raman feature after annealing has been explained as due to an increase of grain size and the reduction of O-vacancy and Zn interstitial. The SEM images have shown that the surfaces of the electron beam evaporated ZnO became smoother for the growth temperatures higher than 300 °C. The optical transmittance is the highest at 300 °C and has been increased after annealing in air showing an improvement of the optical quality. Finally, the maximum electrical resistivity has been found at 300 °C, which explains its relation with the crystal quality and increased from 5.8×10⁻² Ω cm to reach an approximate value of 10⁹ Ω cm after annealing at 750 °C.     

Electron transport mechanism of tungsten trioxide powder thin film studied by investigating effect of annealing on resistivity

We report a new approach for improving the recharging and discharging speed of lithium ion batteries based on understanding of the electron conduction mechanism of tungsten trioxide (WO₃) powder thin films fabricated from nanoparticles and used in lithium ion battery electrodes. Resistivity measurements are carried out after annealing in N₂ or 5% O₂ + 95% N₂ ambient. Annealing in N₂ ambient decreases the resistivity owing to the increased number of oxygen vacancies in the WO₃ thin film. Fitting results obtained from the resistivity are used to propose the simultaneous existence of two types of electron conduction mechanism, band conduction and nearest-neighbor hopping (NNH) conduction, contributing to electron conduction in WO₃ thin films.     

Enhanced performance in inverted polymer solar cells employing microwave-annealed sol-gel ZnO as electron transport layers

In this work, we propose a facile microwave-assisted approach for annealing sol-gel derived ZnO films to serve as electron transport layers (ETLs) for inverted bulk heterojunction polymer solar cells. We have demonstrated an impressive enhancement in performance for devices based on a poly (3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT): (6,6)-phenyl-C₆₁-butyric acid methyl ester (PC₆₁BM) system employing the microwave-annealed ZnO (ZnO (MW)) ETLs in comparison to the cases using the conventional hotplate-annealed ZnO (ZnO (HP)) ones. The better electron transport in the device with the ZnO (MW) ETL is mainly ascribed to the preferable interfacial contact as evidenced by the morphology characteristics. Furthermore, the comprehensive analyses conducted from the light intensity dependent photocurrent and photovoltage measurements, the capacitance-voltage characteristics, and the alternating current impedance spectra suggest that the utilization of the ZnO (MW) ETLs can effectively suppress trap-assisted recombination as well as charge accumulation at the interface between P3HT: PC₆₁BM layers and ZnO layers, which is responsible for the enhanced device performance.     

Solvent engineering of the electron transport layer using 1,8-diiodooctane for improving the performance of perovskite solar cells

In this work, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of perovskite solar cells (PSCs) was improved by 14.8% (from 11.09% to 12.73%) by using 1,8-diiodooctane (DIO) as a solvent additive during the deposition of phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) layers. The primary reasons for the PCE improvement are the simultaneous increases in the short-circuit current density, fill factor, and open-circuit voltage. The incorporation of DIO improves the morphology of the electron transport layer (PCBM), which plays an important role in charge dissociation, transportation, and collection. Our results indicate that engineering the morphology of the electron transport layer is a simple and effective method for developing high-performance PSCs.