Research progress of cathode buffer layers of the polymer solar cells

Abstract

Polymer solar cells (PSCs) have attracted great attention in the clean energy utilization due to their advantages of light weight, low cost and easy fabrication. Recently, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the PSCs has been improved gradually. The PCE of the single junction PSCs have been increased over 11%, and the interface buffer layers have become the key factors to significantly influence the device performance. In this review, we summaried the recent progress on the cathode buffer layers (CBLs) of the PSCs. The commonly used CBLs have been introduced from two types: inorganic and organic materials. The inorganic materials include metal oxides, metals and metal compounds. The organic materials include polymers, fullerene derivatives and n-type organic semiconductors. We have also investigated the influences on the device photovoltaic performances by introducing their electric properties, optical properties, energy levels, surface morphology and interface contacts. Finally, we have given a perspective on PSCs.