TY - JOUR
T1 - Mutual Photoluminescence Quenching and Photovoltaic Effect in Large-Area Single-Layer MoS2-Polymer Heterojunctions
AU - Shastry, Tejas A.
AU - Balla, Itamar
AU - Bergeron, Hadallia
AU - Amsterdam, Samuel H.
AU - Marks, Tobin J.
AU - Hersam, Mark C.
N1 - Funding Information:
The device fabrication and testing were supported as part of the Argonne-Northwestern Solar Energy Research (ANSER) Center, an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences, under Award DE-SC0001059. The MoS2 CVD growth was supported by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST CHiMaD 70NANB14H012).
PY - 2016/11/22
Y1 - 2016/11/22
N2 - Two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) have recently attracted attention due to their superlative optical and electronic properties. In particular, their extraordinary optical absorption and semiconducting band gap have enabled demonstrations of photovoltaic response from heterostructures composed of TMDCs and other organic or inorganic materials. However, these early studies were limited to devices at the micrometer scale and/or failed to exploit the unique optical absorption properties of single-layer TMDCs. Here we present an experimental realization of a large-area type-II photovoltaic heterojunction using single-layer molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) as the primary absorber, by coupling it to the organic π-donor polymer PTB7. This TMDC-polymer heterojunction exhibits photoluminescence intensity that is tunable as a function of the thickness of the polymer layer, ultimately enabling complete quenching of the TMDC photoluminescence. The strong optical absorption in the TMDC-polymer heterojunction produces an internal quantum efficiency exceeding 40% for an overall cell thickness of less than 20 nm, resulting in exceptional current density per absorbing thickness in comparison to other organic and inorganic solar cells. Furthermore, this work provides insight into the recombination processes in type-II TMDC-polymer heterojunctions and thus provides quantitative guidance to ongoing efforts to realize efficient TMDC-based solar cells.
AB - Two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) have recently attracted attention due to their superlative optical and electronic properties. In particular, their extraordinary optical absorption and semiconducting band gap have enabled demonstrations of photovoltaic response from heterostructures composed of TMDCs and other organic or inorganic materials. However, these early studies were limited to devices at the micrometer scale and/or failed to exploit the unique optical absorption properties of single-layer TMDCs. Here we present an experimental realization of a large-area type-II photovoltaic heterojunction using single-layer molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) as the primary absorber, by coupling it to the organic π-donor polymer PTB7. This TMDC-polymer heterojunction exhibits photoluminescence intensity that is tunable as a function of the thickness of the polymer layer, ultimately enabling complete quenching of the TMDC photoluminescence. The strong optical absorption in the TMDC-polymer heterojunction produces an internal quantum efficiency exceeding 40% for an overall cell thickness of less than 20 nm, resulting in exceptional current density per absorbing thickness in comparison to other organic and inorganic solar cells. Furthermore, this work provides insight into the recombination processes in type-II TMDC-polymer heterojunctions and thus provides quantitative guidance to ongoing efforts to realize efficient TMDC-based solar cells.
KW - heterojunction solar cell
KW - photoluminescence
KW - photovoltaic effect
KW - transition metal dichalcogenide
KW - two-dimensional materials
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U2 - 10.1021/acsnano.6b06592
DO - 10.1021/acsnano.6b06592
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84997498630
VL - 10
SP - 10573
EP - 10579
JO - ACS Nano
JF - ACS Nano
SN - 1936-0851
IS - 11
ER -