Digital printing of a novel electrode for stable flexible organic solar cells with a power conversion efficiency of 8.5%

Abstract

Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) mixed with single-wall nanotubes (SWNTs) (10:1) and doped with (0.1 M) perchloric acid (HClO4) in a solution-processed film, working as an excellent thin transparent conducting film (TCF) in organic solar cells, was investigated. This new electrode structure can be an outstanding substitute for conventional indium tin oxide (ITO) for applications in flexible solar cells due to the potential of attaining high transparency with enhanced conductivity, good flexibility, and good durability via a low-cost process over a large area. In addition, solution-processed vanadium oxide (VOx) doped with a small amount of PEDOT-PSS(PH1000) can be applied as a hole transport layer (HTL) for achieving high efficiency and stability. From these viewpoints, we investigate the benefit of using printed SWNTs-PEDOT-PSS doped with HClO4 as a transparent conducting electrode in a flexible organic solar cell. Additionally, we applied a VOx-PEDOT-PSS thin film as a hole transporting layer and a blend of PTB7 (polythieno[3,4-b] thiophene/benzodithiophene): PC71BM (phenyl-C71-butyric acid methyl ester) as an active layer in devices. Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles were applied as an electron transport layer and Ag was used as the top electrode. The proposed solar cell structure showed an enhancement in short-circuit current, power conversion efficiency, and stability relative to a conventional cell based on ITO. This result suggests a great carrier injection throughout the interfacial layer, high conductivity and transparency, as well as firm adherence for the new electrode.

Carbon‐Based Electrodes for Organic Solar Cells

“…Doping PEDOT‐PSS:SWCNTs with HClO 4 could obtain a conductive electrode and improve the adhesion with the PET substrate. The highest efficiency of the flexible OSCs was up to 8.6 %, which is the highest efficiency of CNT materials as a cathode [56] . In addition, among the few reports of CNTs as cathodes, another paper reported the fabrication of OSCs which used transparent and conducting SWCNT thin films as current collecting electrodes on plastic substrates in ZnO NW/P3HT bulk heterojunction photovoltaic devices.…”

“… (A) Schematic device structure based on PET/PEDOT‐SWCNT, PET/PEDOT‐SWCNT+ (0.1 M) HClO 4 , and ITO cathodes. Reproduced with permission [56] . 2021, Springer Nature.…”

“…Reproduced with permission. [55] 2012, American Chemical Society [56] 2021, Springer Nature. (B) Schematic illustration of the ITOfree flexible OSC with the flexible CNS-based TCE.…”

“…The highest efficiency of the flexible OSCs was up to 8.6 %, which is the highest efficiency of CNT materials as a cathode. [56] In addition, among the few reports of CNTs as cathodes, another paper reported the fabrication of OSCs which used transparent and conducting SWCNT thin films as current collecting electrodes on plastic substrates in ZnO NW/P3HT bulk heterojunction photovoltaic devices. Besides, the use of ZnO NWs instead of functionalized fullerenes (i. e. PCBM) provided a cost-effective alternative to conventional OSCs, and the maximum PCE of devices was ~0.6 %.…”

Study and Analysis of Simple and Precise of Contact Resistance Single-Transistor Extracting Method for Accurate Analytical Modeling of OTFTs Current-Voltage Characteristics: Application to Different Organic Semiconductors

“…During the last few years, the field of microelectronic devices based on organic semiconductors (OSCs), such as organic solar cells, organic memories, organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) and organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), is considered as being a tremendously developed technology in the industrial and scientific communities when compared with its inorganic counterpart [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]. In particular, among them, the OTFTs forming the backbone of an important number of microelectronic devices, such as displays, gas sensors, smart cards, and radio-frequency identification tags, smart display screens, and other innovative high-technology where these OTFTs play the role of a vital and indispensable constituent [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25].…”