Enhancing Lifetime and Efficiency of Organic Solar Cell by Applying an In Situ Synthesized Low‐Crystalline ZnO Layer. Issue 11 (10th May 2017) - Arabpour Roghabadi, Farzaneh
Abstract: By introducing an in situ synthesized low‐crystalline ZnO (LC‐ZnO) (amorphous) layer between the cathode and the active layer of PCPDTBT:CdSe solar cell {PCPDTBT: poly[2, 6‐(4, 4‐bis(2‐ethylhexyl)‐4 H ‐cyclopenta [2, 1‐b:3, 4‐b′]dithiophene)‐ alt ‐4, 7(2, 1, 3‐benzothiadiazole)]}, the device keeps more than 80 and 40 % of its initial lifetime after 180 and 360 days without any encapsulation, respectively. In this regard, 180 days is the highest lifetime achieved for polymer‐based solar cells with direct configuration. In addition, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) is improved up to 70 % in the presence of the LC‐ZnO interfacial layer. The LC‐ZnO layer is synthesized during polymer annealing after solution‐deposition of the precursor at a low temperature (140 °C) and a short time. Highly crystalline ZnO (HC‐ZnO) nanoparticles are also synthesized and applied as an interfacial layer. The results show that the LC‐ZnO is superior to the HC‐ZnO in acting as cathode interfacial layer and moisture scavenger because of the high coverage and surface area provided by the in situ synthesis method. Abstract : Long live the solar cell : By introducing an in situ synthesized low‐crystalline (amorphous) ZnO (LC‐ZnO) layer between the cathode and the active layer of a PCPDTBT:CdSe solar cell, the power conversion efficiency is improved up to 70 % and the device lifetime reaches 180 days without any encapsulation, which is the highest lifetime achieved for polymer‐based solar cells with direct configuration.