4P-NPD ultra-thin films as efficient exciton blocking layers in DBP/C70 based organic solar cells

Exciton blocking effects from ultra-thin layers of N,N′-di-1-naphthalenyl-N,N′-diphenyl [1,1′:4′,1″:4″,1 -quaterphenyl]-4,4 -diamine (4P-NPD) were investigated in small molecule-based inverted organic solar cells (OSCs) using tetraphenyldibenzoperiflanthene as the electron donor material and fullerene (C70) as the electron acceptor material. The short-circuit current density (JSC) and power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the optimized OSCs with 0.7 nm thick 4P-NPD were approximately 16% and 24% higher, respectively, compared to reference devices without exciton blocking layers (EBLs). Drift diffusion-based device modeling was conducted to model the full current density-voltage (JV) characteristics and external quantum efficiency spectrum of the OSCs, and photoluminescence measurements were conducted to investigate the exciton blocking effects with increasing thicknesses of the 4P-NPD layer. Importantly, coupled optical and electrical modeling studies of the device behaviors and exciton generation rates and densities in the active layer for different 4P-NPD layer thicknesses were conducted, in order to gain a complete understanding of the observed increase in PCE for 4P-NPD layer thicknesses up to 1 nm, and the observed decrease in PCE for layer thicknesses beyond 1 nm. This work demonstrates a route for guiding the integration of EBLs in OSC devices.