ZnO:Al cathode for highly efficient, semitransparent 4% organic solar cells utilizing TiOx and aluminum interlayers

Abstract

We report on the fabrication of highly efficient, semitransparent bulk heterojunction solar cells comprising poly[[9-(1-octylnonyl)-9h-carbazole-2,7-diyl]-2,5-thiophenediyl-2,1,3-benzothiadiazole-4,7-diyl-2,5-thiophenediyl] (PCDTBT) blended with [6,6]-phenyl-C71-butyric acid methyl (PC71BM) esters as active layer. As semitransparent cathode sputtered aluminum doped ZnO was used in combination with a sputter damage preventing, thin (8 nm) TiOx layer processed from solution and a sputtered aluminum interlayer (ALI). The short circuit current improves for thicker ALIs due to increased reflectance at the cathode leading to average efficiencies of 4.0% for semitransparent solar cells. Comparable results (3.9%) were achieved for devices comprising thick absorbers and thin ALIs.