Interfacial Engineering in Organic Photovoltaic Devices
Summary
Interfacial engineering in organic photovoltaic devices (OPVs) involves the deliberate modification of the interfaces between organic active layers and electrode or transport layers to optimise charge extraction, minimise recombination and enhance operational stability. Interfaces govern energy-level alignment, charge selectivity and long-term durability. Key strategies include the introduction of self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) to tune electrode work function, insertion of hybrid buffer layers to suppress interfacial traps, and chemical functionalisation of hole and electron transport layers to balance carrier mobility. By fine-tuning dipolar orientation, surface wettability and interlayer morphology, researchers have achieved significant gains in power conversion efficiency (PCE), fill factor and lifetime. Efforts worldwide now focus on scalable, solution-processable interface treatments compatible with flexible substrates, accelerating the path towards commercial, cost-effective OPV modules.
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Interfacial Engineering in Organic Photovoltaic Devices publication trend
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Technical terms
Self-assembled monolayer (SAM): A single-molecule layer formed by spontaneous organisation of amphiphilic molecules on a substrate, used to modify surface energy and work function.
Hole transport layer (HTL): An interfacial layer designed to extract and transport positive charge carriers (holes) from the active layer to the anode.
Electron transport layer (ETL): An interfacial layer facilitating extraction and transport of electrons from the active layer to the cathode.
Work function: The minimum energy required to remove an electron from a solid into vacuum, critical for aligning energy levels at interfaces.
Bulk heterojunction (BHJ): A mixed morphology of donor and acceptor materials forming an interpenetrating network for efficient exciton dissociation and charge transport.
References
- Finetuning Hole-Extracting Monolayers for Efficient Organic Solar Cells. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces (2022).
- Mitigating Detrimental Effect of Self‐Doping Near the Anode in Highly Efficient Organic Solar Cells. Advanced Functional Materials (2023).
- Stable Organic Solar Cells Enabled by Simultaneous Hole and Electron Interlayer Engineering. Energy & Environmental Materials (2024).
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