Uncovering the role of cathode buffer layer in organic solar cells

Organic solar cells (OSCs) as the third generation photovoltaic devices have drawn intense research, for their ability to be easily deposited by low-cost solution coating technologies. However the cathode in conventional OSCs, Ca, can be only deposited by thermal evaporation and is highly unstable in ambient. Therefore various solution processible cathode buffer layers (CBLs) are synthesized as substitute of Ca and show excellent effect in optimizing performance of OSCs. Yet, there is still no universal consensus on the mechanism that how CBL works, which is evidently a critical scientific issue that should be addressed. In this article detailed studies are targeted on the interfacial physics at the interface between active layer and cathode (with and without treatment of a polar CBL) by using ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy, capacitance-voltage measurement, and impedance spectroscopy. The experimental data demonstrate that CBL mainly takes effect in three ways: suppressing surface states at the surface of active layer, protecting the active layer from being damaged by thermally evaporated cathode, and changing the energy level alignment by forming dipole moments with active layer and/or cathode. Our findings here provide a comprehensive picture of interfacial physics in devices with and without CBL.