Detailed analysis of ultrathin fluorescent red dye interlayer for organic photovoltaic cells

The influence of an ultrathin 4-(dicyanomethylene)-2-t-butyl-6-(1,1,7,7-tetramethyljulolidyl-9-enyl)-4H-pyran (DCJTB) fluorescent dye layer at donor/acceptor heterojunction on the performance of small-molecule organic photovoltaic (OPV) cell is studied. The structure of OPV cell is of indium-tin oxide (ITO)/copper phthalocyanine (CuPc)/DCJTB/fullerene (C₆₀)/bathophenanthroline (Bphen)/Ag. The results show that open circuit voltage (V_OC) increases to 0.57 V as the film thickness of DCJTB layer increases from 0.2 to 2.0 nm. By using an equivalent circuit model, the enhancement of V_OC is found to be attributed to the reduced reverse saturation current density (J_S) which is due to the lower highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) level in DCJTB than that in CuPc. Also, the short circuit current density (J_SC) is affected when the DCJTB layer becomes thicker, resulting from the high series resistance R_SA due to the low charge carrier mobility of fluorescent red dye.