Efficient tandem organic solar cells with an Al/MoO3 intermediate layer

Abstract

We report efficient tandem organic solar cells with an Al and MoO3 intermediate layer. Such an intermediate layer with optimized thickness (1 nm Al and 15 nm MoO3) has high transparency (∼98% in the range from 350 to 900 nm) and efficient charge collections to realize electric connection in series. For polymer-small molecule tandem cell, due to the summation (1.01 V) of the open-circuit voltages of individual cells and a short-circuit current density of 6.05 mA/cm2, a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 2.82% was obtained under 100 mW/cm2 illumination, which is larger than either of the individual cells. The PCE reached 3.88% when the tandem cell was illuminated under 300 mW/cm2. Additionally, we applied Al/MoO3 intermediate layer to realize a solution-processed polymer tandem cell with a high PCE (2.23%). The thick MoO3 (15 nm) provides a complete protection of the prior-deposited polymer layer from dissolving during the top cell polymer coating.