Fullerene-free, MoTe2 atomic layer blended bulk heterojunctions for improved organic solar cell and photodetector performance

Abstract

This paper introduces a facile solution route to fabricate MoTe2 grain nano-domains for hybrid polymer heterojunction solar cells and photodetectors. Fabricated MoTe2 structures were investigated using Raman and XRD, and surface morphologies characterized using FE-SEM and TEM. We subsequently assembled a non-fullerene polymer heterojunction device using the PBDB-T:ITIC active layer for ITO/HTL/active-layer/LiF/Al architype solar cells and photodetectors. We also investigated effects from different MoTe2 nanostructure proportions embedded in the PBDB-T:ITIC polymer matrix as active layers to assemble solar cell and photodetector devices. Maximum power conversion efficiency =8.94% with improved carrier mobility =9.23 x 10(-4) cm(2) V-1 s(-1) was achieved for 10 vol% MoTe2 nanostructure inclusion with PBDB-T:ITIC active layer. A fabricated photodetector using 10 vol%-MoTe2 @PBDB-T:ITIC film achieved maximum detectivity =2.62 x 10(10) Jones with 0.706 A W-1 responsivity at 755 mu W cm(-2) light density under 656 nm laser source. The proposed facile approach to fabricate 2D MoTe2 atomic layer infusion with polymer heterojunction offers a credible mechanism to progress interfacial characteristics for future organic semiconducting devices. (c) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).