Role of ITO and PEDOT:PSS in stability/degradation of polymer:fullerene bulk heterojunctions solar cells

Gîrtan, Mihaela; Rusu, M.

doi:10.1016/j.solmat.2009.10.026

Cited by 136 publications

(77 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…It is important to consider the long-term storage of graphene-based solar cell devices. One of the causes of degradation in BHJ organic solar cells is that the interface between the hole extracting interfacial layer, PEDOT:PSS, and the ITO anode, as pointed out by Girtan and Rusu, 30 leads to failure in solar cells. Studies that reported on the long-term stability/degradation of graphene-based solar cell devices (mainly on graphene/n-silicon heterojunction devices, but with a few other BHJ congurations) in terms of PCE (h) as a function of time in the air atmosphere are summarized in Table 1.…”

Section: Stability Of Graphene-based Heterojunction Solar Cellsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stability of graphene-based heterojunction solar cells

Singh

Nalwa

2015

RSC Adv.

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Bulk-heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells based on organic small molecules and polymers are the focus of increasing attention by science and commerce. In organic photovoltaic devices, a conjugated polymer layer is used as the donor, while a fullerene-based derivative is used as the acceptor. Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) is one of the most common interfacial materials used for organic BHJ solar cells. However, PEDOT:PSS is acidic and hygroscopic in nature, and it inherits microstructural inhomogeneities that cause not only gradual degradation, but a complete failure of BHJ solar cell devices. There is a growing interest in graphene-based solar cells because graphene-based materials offer ease of solution processability, high optical transparency, and high power conversion efficiency. Graphene has been actively investigated for use as a transparent conducting electrode, and as a photoactive layer in fabricating solar cell devices. Power conversion efficiency in the range of 10% to 15% for graphene and inorganic semiconductor-based hybrid heterojunction solar cells, and 15.6% for graphene-containing perovskite solar cells has been observed.Organic materials-based solar cells degrade not only from environmental exposure, but also from photo-oxidation caused by light illumination. In addition to higher power conversion efficiency, stability in graphene-based solar cells is critically important for commercial applications. In this review article, the stability of graphene-based heterojunction solar cells under atmospheric conditions is evaluated. Current studies show that the insertion of a graphene buffer layer into solar cell heterostructures stops degradation and enhances stability in solar cell devices. Long-term environmental stability of graphenebased heterojunction solar cells for commercial applications is discussed.

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Section: Stability Of Graphene-based Heterojunction Solar Cellsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stability of graphene-based heterojunction solar cells

Singh

Nalwa

2015

RSC Adv.

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“…In order to minimize such adverse effects, the HEL and EEL are used as interfacial layers to align the energy levels between the work function of the anode and the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) level of the electron donor, as well as the work function of the cathode and the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) level of A c c e p t e d M a n u s c r i p t electron acceptor, respectively. Conventionally, PEDOT:PSS has been commonly used as HEL in PSCs, but it has some drawbacks such as low transmittance in the red to near infrared (NIR) region, strong acidic and hygroscopic nature, which have a detrimental effect on PCE and stability of PSCs [41,42]. On the other hand, the low-work-function metals or their related salts, metal oxide semiconductors and conjugated polyelectrolyte have often been used as EELs [43,44].…”

Section: Graphene-based Materials As Interfacial Layersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Graphene-based materials for polymer solar cells

Lin

Zhang

Yuan

et al. 2016

Chinese Chemical Letters

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“…The PCE of PEDOT:PSS-based device was observed to significantly decrease~0% after 200 h. The degradation of PEDOT:PSS-based device is mainly attributed to the chemical instability of PEDOT:PSS, which is known to be easily damaged by oxygen and moisture. In addition, the PEDOT:PSS can deteriorate ITO and cause indium permeation into the photoactive layers so that water molecules can easily penetrate into the hydrophilic PEDOT:PSS layer, resulting in the degraded device performance [9,10]. The MR-GO-based device sustained its device performance for 1000 h with 12% decrease.…”

Section: Stabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, PEDOT:PSS as a HEL is known to degrade the device performance and lifetime of the PSCs. PSS is hygroscopic and strongly acidic (pH ¼ 1e2), which can result in critical chemical damages to the adjacent layers by etching indium tin oxide (ITO) electrode [9,10] Metal oxide inorganic semiconductors have been developed for the HEL, but they are typically deposited by a thermal evaporation process in high vacuum chambers [7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%