Highly conductive poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) films as stand‐alone electrodes for organic solar cells have been optimized using a solvent post‐treatment method. The treated PEDOT:PSS films show enhanced conductivities up to 1418 S cm−1, accompanied by structural and chemical changes. The effect of the solvent treatment on PEDOT:PSS has been investigated in detail and is shown to cause a reduction of insulating PSS in the conductive polymer layer. Using these optimized electrodes, ITO‐free, small molecule organic solar cells with a zinc phthalocyanine (ZnPc):fullerene C60 bulk heterojunction have been produced on glass and PET substrates. The system was further improved by pre‐heating the PEDOT:PSS electrodes, which enhanced the power conversion efficiency to the values obtained for solar cells on ITO electrodes. The results show that optimized PEDOT:PSS with solvent and thermal post‐treatment can be a very promising electrode material for highly efficient flexible ITO‐free organic solar cells.

The authors compare organic solar cells using two different transparent conductive oxides as anode: indium tin oxide (ITO) and three kinds of aluminum doped zinc oxide (ZAO). These anodes with different work functions are used for small molecule photovoltaic devices based on an oligothiophene derivative as donor and fullerene C-60 as acceptor molecule. It turns out that cells on ITO and ZAO have virtually identical properties. In particular, the authors demonstrate that the work function of the anode does not influence the V-oc of the photovoltaic device due to the use of doped transport layers

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