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ITO-Based Cathode for Application in Semitransparent Organic Photovoltaic Cells

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

Ging-Meng Ng
Affiliation:
gm-ng@imre.a-star.edu.sg, Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, 3 Research Link, Singapore, 117602, Singapore
Elizabeth Lekha Kietzke
Affiliation:
bella_paul@hotmail.com, Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, 3 Research Link, Singapore, 117602, Singapore
Thomas Kietzke
Affiliation:
thomas.kietzke@web.de, Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, 3 Research Link, Singapore, 117602, Singapore
Li-Wei Tan
Affiliation:
lwtan938@hotmail.com, Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, 3 Research Link, Singapore, 117602, Singapore
Pooi-Kwan Liew
Affiliation:
pk-liew@imre.a-star.edu.sg, Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, 3 Research Link, Singapore, 117602, Singapore
Furong Zhu
Affiliation:
fr-zhu@imre.a-star.edu.sg, Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, Opto- & Electronic Systems Cluster, 3 Research Link, Singapore, 117602, Singapore
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Abstract

A high performance semitransparent cathode is one of the major impediments to the high performance semitransparent and tandem organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells. In this work, we discuss the possible designs of semitransparent cathode to improve the performance of semitransparent OPV cells. The optical properties of the poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT): 1-(3-methoxycarbonyl)-propyl-1-phenyl-(6,6)C61 (PCBM)-based OPV cells were studied by the optical admittance analysis. The performance of the OPV cells made with an opaque Ca(10nm)/Ag(100nm) cathode and a semitransparent Ca(10nm)/Ag(10nm)/ITO cathode are discussed. The interfacial properties at the cathode/organic interface were analyzed using the time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectroscopy (TOF-SIMS). The TOF-SIMS depth profile revealed that calcium oxide formed at the Ca/organic interface in semitransparent OPV cells, which was induced by the ITO sputtering process. It shows that the presence of calcium oxide at the organic/cathode interface could be the main reason resulting in a poor fill factor of a semitransparent OPV cell (∼23%) as compared to that of a reference cell (∼43%).

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2007

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