ITO-free flexible organic photovoltaics with multilayer MoO3/LiF/MoO3/Ag/MoO3 as the transparent electrode

Abstract

We present efficient flexible organic photovoltaics (OPVs) with multiple layers of molybdenum oxide (MoO3)/LiF/MoO3/Ag/MoO3 as the transparent electrode, where the thin Ag layer yields high conductivity and the dielectric layer MoO3/LiF/MoO3 has high transparency due to optical interference, leading to improved power conversion efficiency compared with indium tin oxide (ITO) based devices. The MoO3 contacting organic active layer is used as a buffer layer for good hole extraction. Thus, the multilayer MoO3/LiF/MoO3/Ag/MoO3 can improve light transmittance and also facilitate charge carrier extraction. Such an electrode shows excellent mechanical bendability with a 9% reduction of efficiency after 1000 cycles of bending due to the ductile nature of the thin metal layer and dielectric layer used. Our results suggest that the MoO3/LiF/MoO3/Ag/MoO3 multilayer electrode is a promising alternative to ITO as an electrode in OPVs.