Air-stable inverted flexible polymer solar cells using zinc oxide nanoparticles as an electron selective layer

Abstract

The performance and stability of unencapsulated inverted bulk-heterojunction solar cells with zinc oxide (ZnO) made by different processes as the electron selective contact are compared to conventional bulk-heterojunction solar cells. The low temperature processed inverted devices using ZnO nanoparticles on indium tin oxide plastic substrates showed high power conversion efficiency of ∼3.3%. This inverted device structure possessed much better stability under ambient conditions retaining over 80% of its original conversion efficiency after 40days while the conventional one showed negligible photovoltaic activity after 4days. This is due to the improved stability at the poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate)/Ag interface.

(0 0 2)-oriented growth and morphologies of ZnO thin films prepared by sol-gel method

“…ZnO thin films have been widely applied in high technology such as optoelectronic devices, solar cells, piezoelectric transducers and gas sensors [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. Many techniques have been utilized to prepare ZnO thin films, such as metal organic chemical vapor deposition, pulsed laser deposition, sputtering, hydrothermal, sol-gel method, etc.…”

Efficient Inverted Tandem Polymer Solar Cells with a Solution‐Processed Recombination Layer

“…For this purpose, we use a thermally annealed solution-processed ZnO nanoparticle layer as the electron collecting contact. [ 22 ] Both P3HT:ICBA and PDPP5T:[60]PCBM can directly be deposited from solution onto this ZnO layer. Compared to normal confi guration tandem cells, the challenge in making a solution-processed inverted cell is establishing a robust procedure for depositing a hole collecting layer on top of the fi rst active layer.…”

An Indium Tin Oxide-Free Polymer Solar Cell on Flexible Glass

“…8 This inverted device structure has been shown to have better ambient stability and be compatible with a roll-to-roll coating process. 62,63 The current density−voltage (J−V) curves together with the external quantum efficiency (EQE) curves of the fabricated devices are shown in Figure 5. Average values with standard deviations of the photovoltaic parameters for the fabricated devices are listed in Table 3.…”