Effect of MoO₃ Thickness on the Electrical, Optical, and structural Properties of MoO₃ Graded ITO Anodes for PEDOT:PSS-free Organic Solar Cells

We investigated $MoO_3$ graded ITO electrodes for organic solar cells (OSCs) without PEDOT:PSS buffer layer. The effect of $MoO_3$ thickness on the electrical, optical, and structural properties of $MoO_3$ graded ITO anodes prepared by RF/DC magnetron co-sputtering system using $MoO_3$ and ITO targets was investigated. At optimized conditions, we obtained $MoO_3$ graded ITO electrodes with a low sheet resistance of 13 Ohm/square, a high optical transmittance of 83% and a work function of 4.92 eV, comparable to conventional ITO films. Due to the existence of $MoO_3$ on the ITO electrodes, OSCs fabricated on $MoO_3$ graded ITO electrode without buffer layer successfully operated. Although OSCs fabricated on ITO anode without buffer layer showed a low power conversion efficiency of 1.249%, OSCs fabricated on $MoO_3$ graded ITO electrode without buffer layer showed a outstanding cell performance of 2.545%. OSCs fabricated on the $MoO_3$ graded ITO electrodes exhibited a fill factor of 61.275%, a short circuit current of 7.439 mA/cm2, an open circuit voltage of 0.554 V, and a power conversion efficiency of 2.545%. Therefore, $MoO_3$ graded ITO electrodes can be considered a promising transparent electrode for cost efficient and reliable OSCs because it could eliminate the use of acidic PEDOT:PSS buffer layer.