Undoped ZnO electrodes for low-cost indoor organic photovoltaics. Issue 46 (8th November 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Goo, Ji Soo; Lee, Jung-Hoon; Shin, Sang-Chul; Park, Jin-Seong; Shim, Jae Won
• Is Part Of: Journal of materials chemistry. Volume 6:Issue 46(2018)
• Page Start: 23464
• Page End: 23472
• Publication Date: 2018-11-08
• Subjects: Materials -- Research -- Periodicals; Chemistry, Analytic -- Periodicals; Environmental sciences -- Research -- Periodicals; 543.0284
• DOI: 10.1039/c8ta08432g
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2050-7488

Abstract

Abstract : OPVs with undoped ZnO electrodes showed excellent indoor performance with an efficiency of 9.5 ± 0.3% under an LED. Abstract : The unique features of organic photovoltaics (OPVs) offer great potential for their use as indoor energy harvesters. Here, we demonstrate for the first time the use of a low-cost undoped ZnO film for the transparent conducting electrode (TCE) of OPVs. Atomic layer deposition was employed to produce potentially defect-free and crystalline ZnO films. Poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT):indene-C60 bisadduct (ICBA)-based OPVs with 200 nm-thick ZnO TCEs were shown to hardly operate under 1 sun conditions due to the high sheet resistance ( R SH ) of the ZnO film (260 Ω sq −1 ). Surprisingly, the indoor performance of the OPVs was found to be barely dependent on the R SH of the TCEs; rather, other factors such as leakage components associated with the shunt resistance were found to have a greater influence on the performance. The OPVs exhibited excellent indoor performance with a power-conversion efficiency (PCE) of 9.5 ± 0.3% under a light emitting diode lamp with a luminance of 500 lux. The measured PCE was slightly higher than or comparable to that of reference devices with a 200 nm-thick ITO TCE. Finally, the ZnO TCE is expected to result in more than 20% cost reduction of the OPVs when compared with the ITO TCE.