Disodium edetate as a promising interfacial material for inverted organic solar cells and the device performance optimization

Abstract

Disodium edetate (EDTA-Na), a popular hexadentate ligand in analytical chemistry, was successfully introduced in organic solar cells (OSCs) as cathode interfacial layer. The inverted OSCs with EDTA-Na showed superior performance both in power conversion efficiency and devices stability compared with conventional devices. Interestingly, we found that the performance of devices with EDTA-Na could be optimized through external bias treatment. After optimization, the efficiency of inverted OSCs with device structure of ITO/EDTA-Na/polymer thieno[3,4-b]thiophene/benzodithiophene (PTB7):PC71BM/MoO3/Al was significantly increased to 8.33% from an initial value of 6.75%. This work introduces a new class of interlayer materials, small molecule electrolytes, for organic solar cells.