Oriented growth of Al 2O 3:ZnO nanolaminates for use as electron-selective electrodes in inverted polymer solar cells

Hyeunseok Cheun, Canek Fuentes-Hernandez, Jaewon Shim, Yunnan Fang, Ye Cai, Hong Li, Ajaya K. Sigdel, Jens Meyer, Julia Maibach, Amir Dindar, Yinhua Zhou, Joseph J. Berry, Jean Luc Bredas, Antoine Kahn, Kenneth H. Sandhage, Bernard Kippelen*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

50 Scopus citations

Abstract

Atomic layer deposition is used to synthesize Al 2O 3:ZnO(1:x) nanolaminates with the number of deposition cycles, x, ranging from 5 to 30 for evaluation as optically transparent, electron-selective electrodes in polymer-based inverted solar cells. Al 2O 3:ZnO(1:20) nanolaminates are found to exhibit the highest values of electrical conductivity (1.2 × 10 3 S cm -1; more than six times higher than for neat ZnO films), while retaining a high optical transmittance (â¥80% in the visible region) and a low work function (4.0 eV). Such attractive performance is attributed to the structure (ZnO crystal size and crystal alignment) and doping level of this intermediate Al 2O 3:ZnO film composition. Polymer-based inverted solar cells using poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT):phenyl-C 61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) mixtures in the active layer and Al 2O 3:ZnO(1:20) nanolaminates as transparent electron-selective electrodes exhibit a power conversion efficiency of 3% under simulated AM 1.5 G, 100 mW cm -2 illumination.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1531-1538
Number of pages8
JournalAdvanced Functional Materials
Volume22
Issue number7
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 10 2012
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Al O :ZnO nanolaminates
  • atomic layer deposition
  • inverted organic solar cells
  • oriented growth

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
  • General Chemistry
  • Condensed Matter Physics
  • General Materials Science
  • Electrochemistry
  • Biomaterials

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