Role of thin n-type metal-oxide interlayers in inverted organic solar cells.

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces

Department of Chemistry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, United States.

Published: August 2012

AI Article Synopsis

  • The study explores the photovoltaic performance of inverted solar cells made with a bulk heterojunction film that combines poly(3-hexylthiophene) and phenyl-C(61)-butyric acid methyl ester, using a specific arrangement of electrodes.
  • The inverted solar cells achieved an external quantum efficiency (EQE) greater than 70%, which is 10-15% better than that of traditional solar cells.
  • The research suggests that the increased efficiency is largely due to significant splitting of excited states at the interface of the ZnO-Al and the polymer, highlighting the advantages of using n-type metal-oxide layers in enhancing photocurrent yield in bulk heterojunction solar cells.

Article Abstract

We have investigated the photovoltaic properties of inverted solar cells comprising a bulk heterojunction film of poly(3-hexylthiophene) and phenyl-C(61)-butyric acid methyl ester, sandwiched between an indium-tin-oxide/Al-doped zinc oxide (ZnO-Al) front, and tungsten oxide/aluminum back electrodes. The inverted solar cells convert photons to electrons at an external quantum efficiency (EQE) exceeding 70%. This is a 10-15% increase over EQEs of conventional solar cells. The increase in EQE is not fully explained by the difference in the optical transparency of electrodes, interference effects due to an optical spacer effect of the metal-oxide electrode buffer layers, or variation in charge generation profile. We propose that a large additional splitting of excited states at the ZnO-Al/polymer interface leads to the considerably large photocurrent yield in inverted cells. Our finding provides new insights into the benefits of n-type metal-oxide interlayers in bulk heterojunction solar cells, namely the splitting of excited states and conduction of free electrons simultaneously.

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http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/am300549vDOI Listing

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