Ultrasonically Processed WSe₂ Nanosheets Blended Bulk Heterojunction Active Layer for High-Performance Polymer Solar...

Two-dimensional (2D) tungsten diselenide (WSe₂) has attracted considerable attention in the field of photovoltaic devices owing to its excellent structure and photoelectric properties, such as ordered 2D network structure, high electrical conductivity, and high mobility. For this test, we firstly prepared different sizes (NS1-NS3) of WSe₂ nanosheets (NSs) through the ultrasonication method and characterized their structures using the field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray powder diffraction. Moreover, we investigated the photovoltaic performance of polymer solar cells based on 5,7-Bis(2-ethylhexyl)benzo[1,2-c:4,5-c']dithiophene-4,8-dione(PBDB-T):(6,6)-phenyl-C71 butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) with different WSe₂ NSs as the active layer. The fabricated PBDB-T:PCBM active layer with the addition of NS2 WSe₂ NSs (1.5 wt%) exhibited an improved power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 9.2%, which is higher than the pure and NS1 and NS3 WSe₂ blended active layer-encompassing devices. The improved PCE is attributed to the synergic enhancement of exciton dissociation and an improvement in the charge mobility through the modified active layer for polymer solar cells. Furthermore, the highest sensitivity of 2.97 mA/Gy·cm² was achieved for the NS2 WSe₂ NSs blended active layer detected by X-ray exposure over the pure polymer, and with the NS1 and NS2 WSe₂ blended active layer. These results led to the use of transition metal dichalcogenide materials in polymer solar cells and X-ray detectors.