• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2011.05a
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• pp.11.2-11.2
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• 2011

Polymer based organic photovoltaics have attracted a great deal of attention due to the potential cost-effectiveness of light-weight and flexible solar cells. However, most BHJ polymer solar cells are not thermally stable as subsequent exposure to heat drives further development of the morphology towards a state of macrophase separation in the micrometer scale. Here we would like to show three different approaches for developing new electroactive polymers to improve the thermal stability of the BHJ solar cells, which is a critical problem for the commercialization of these solar cells. For one of the examples, we report a new series of functionalized polythiophene (PT-x) copolymers for use in solution processed organic photovoltaics (OPVs). PT-x copolymers were synthesized from two different monomers, where the ratio of the monomers was carefully controlled to achieve a UV photo-crosslinkable layer while leaving the ${\pi}-{\pi}$ stacking feature of conjugated polymers unchanged. The crosslinking stabilizes PT-x/PCBM blend morphology preventing the macro phase separation between two components, which lead to OPVs with remarkably enhanced thermal stability. The drastic improvement in thermal stabilities is further characterized by microscopy as well as grazing incidence X-ray scattering (GIXS). In the second part of talk, we will discuss the use of block copolymers as active materials for WOLEDs in which phosphorescent emitter isolation can be achieved. We have exploited the use of triarylamine (TPA) oxadiazole (OXA) diblock copolymers (TPA-b-OXA), which have been used as host materials due to their high triplet energy and charge-transport properties enabling a balance of holes and electrons. Organization of phosphorescent domains in TPA-b-OXA block copolymers is demonstrated to yield dual emission for white electroluminescence. Our approach minimizes energy transfer between two colored species by site isolation through morphology control, allowing higher loading concentration of red emitters with improved device performance. Furthermore, by varying the molecular weight of TPA-b-OXA and the ratio of blue to red emitters, we have investigated the effect of domain spacing on the electroluminescence spectrum and device performance.

• Carbon letters
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.194-206
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• 2011

Carbon nanomaterials in organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells have attracted a great deal of interest for the development of high-efficiency, flexible, and low-cost solar cells. Due to the complicated structure of OPV devices, the electrical properties and dispersion behavior of the carbon nanomaterials should be controlled carefully in order for them to be used as materials in OPV devices. In this paper, a fundamental theory of the electrical properties and dispersion behavior of carbon nanomaterials is reviewed. Based on this review, a state-of-the-art OPV device composed of carbon nanomaterials, along with issues related to such devices, are discussed.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.577-582
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• 2013

AZO (aluminum-doped zinc oxide) is one of the best candidate materials to replace ITO (indium tin oxide) for TCOs (transparent conductive oxides) used in flat panel displays, organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), and organic solar cells (OSCs). In the present study, to apply an AZO thin film to the transparent electrode of an organic solar cell, a low-temperature selective atomic layer deposition (ALD) process was adopted to deposit an AZO thin film on a flexible poly-ethylene-naphthalate (PEN) substrate. The reactive gases for the ALD process were di-ethyl-zinc (DEZ) and tri-methyl-aluminum (TMA) as precursors and H2O as an oxidant. The structural, electrical, and optical characteristics of the AZO thin film were evaluated. From the measured results of the electrical and optical characteristics of the AZO thin films deposited on the PEN substrates by ALD, it was shown that the AZO thin film appeared to be comparable to a commercially used ITO thin film, which confirmed the feasibility of AZO as a TCO for flexible organic solar cells in the near future.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.31 no.11
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• pp.975-979
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• 2014

Transparent conductive films (TCF) with excellent electrical properties and high mechanical flexibility have been widely studied because of their potential for application in optoelectronic devices such as light-emitting diodes, paper displays and organic solar cells. In this paper, we report on low-resistance and high-transparent TCF for flexible device applications. To fabricate a high-resolution roll imprinted TCF, the following steps were performed: the design and manufacture of an electroforming stamp mold, the fabrication of high-resolution roll imprinted on flexible film, the manufacture of Ag-nano paste which was filled into patterned film using a doctor blade process. Also, we was demonstrated with the successful application(ITO free organic photovoltaic) of the developed flexible TCF.

• International Journal of Precision Engineering and Manufacturing-Green Technology
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• v.5 no.5
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• pp.643-650
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• 2018

A self-powered electrochromic device was fabricated on an indium tin oxide-polyethylene naphthalate flexible substrate using a dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) as a self-harvesting source; the electrochromic device was naturally bleached and operated under outdoor light conditions. The color of the organic electrochromic polymer, poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate, was shifted from pale blue to deep blue with an antimony tin oxide film as a charge-balanced material. Electrochromic performance was enhanced by secondary doping using dimethyl sulfoxide. As a result, the device showed stable switching behavior with a high transmittance change difference of 40% at its specific wavelength of 630 nm for 6 hrs. To improve the efficiency of the solar cell, 1.0 wt.% of Ag NWs in the photoanode was applied to the $TiO_2$ photoanode. It resulted in an efficiency of 3.3%, leading to an operating voltage of 0.7 V under xenon lamp conditions. As a result, we built a standalone self-harvesting electrochromic system with the performance of transmittance switching of 29% at 630 nm, by connecting with two solar cells in a device. Thus, a self-harvesting and flexible device was fabricated to operate automatically under the irradiated/dark conditions.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.02a
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• pp.336-336
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• 2011

Over the past decades, organic semiconductors have been investigated intensely for their potential in a wide range of optoelectronic device applications since the organic materials have advantages for very light, flexible and low cost device fabrications. In this study, we fabricated small-molecule organic solar cells (OSCs) based on chloro[subphthalocyaninato]boron(III) (SubPc) as an electron donor and $C_{60}$ as an electron acceptor material. Recently SubPc, a cone-shaped molecule with $14{\pi}$-electrons in its aromatic system, has attracted growing attention in small-molecule OSC applications as an electron-donating material for its greater open-circuit voltage (VOC), extinction coefficient and dielectric constant compared to conventional planar metal phthalocyanines. In spite of the power conversion efficiency (PCE) enhancement of small-molecule OSC using SubPc and $C_{60}$, however, the study on the interface between donor-acceptor heterojunction of this system is limited. In this work, SubPc thin films at various thicknesses were deposited by organic molecular beam deposition (OMBD) and the evolution of surface morphology was observed using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). We also investigated the influence of film thickness and surface morphology on the PCE of small-molecule OSC devices.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.02a
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• pp.20-20
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• 2010

Organic based photovoltaics (OPV) have been received a lot of attention because they are lightweight, inexpensive to fabricate and flexible compare to crystalline Si solar cells. In this seminar, several important progresses in the Polymer PV, such as, formation of bulk heterojunction, development of post annealing technique, tandem cell fabrication will be introduced. In addition that, some efforts to achieve the further improvement in the performance of the Polymer PV will be discussed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.08a
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• pp.221-221
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• 2012

Small-molecule organic photovoltaic cells have recently attracted growing attention due to their potential for the low-cost fabrication of flexible and lightweight solar modules. The PVP/Ag nanoparticles were synthesized by the reaction of poly vinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and silver nitrate at $150^{\circ}C$. In the reaction, the size of the nanoparticles was controlled by relative mole fractions between PVP and Ag. The PVP/Ag nanoparticles with various sizes were then spin coated on the patterned ITO glass prior to the deposition of the PEDOT:PSS hole transport layer. The scattering of the incident light caused by these incorporated nanoparticles resulted in an increase in the path length of the light through the active layer and hence the enhancement of the light absorption. This scattering effect increased as the size of the nanoparticles increased, but it was offset by the decrease in total transmittance caused by the non-transparent nanoparticles. As a result, the maximum power conversion efficiency, 0.96% which was the value enhanced by 14% compared to the cell without incorporation of nanoparticles, was obtained when the mole fraction of PVP:Ag was 24:1 and the size of the nanoparticles was 20~40 nm.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.343-343
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• 2014

We reported on the electrical, optical, structural and morphological properties fabricated by co-sputtering for use as an anode for organic solar cells (OSCs). By adjusting RF and DC power of $MoO_3$ and IZO targets during co-sputtering, we fabricated the $MoO_3$-IZO electrode with graded content of the $MoO_3$ on the IZO films. At optimized $MoO_3$ thickness of 20 nm, the $MoO_3$ graded IZO electrode showed a higher mobility ($33cm^2/V-Sec$) than directly deposited $MoO_3$ on IZO film ($26cm^2/V-Sec$). At visible range (400nm~800nm), optical transmittance of the $MoO_3$ graded IZO electrode is higher than that of directly deposited $MoO_3$ on IZO film. High mobility of $MoO_3$ graded on IZO is attributed to less interface scattering between $MoO_3$ and IZO. To investigate the feasibility of $MoO_3$ graded IZO films, we fabricated conventional P3HT:PCBM based OSCs with $MoO_3$ graded IZO as a function of MoO3 thickness. The OSC fabricated on the $MoO_3$ graded IZO anode showed a fill factor of 66.53%, a short circuit current of $8.121mA/cm^2$, an open circuit voltage of 0.592 V, and a power conversion efficiency of 3.2% comparable to OSC fabricated on ITO anode and higher than directly deposited $MoO_3$ on IZO film. We suggested possible mechanism to explain the high performance of OSCs with a $MoO_3$ graded IZO.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.168.1-168.1
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• 2014

We developed poly (3,4-ethylene dioxylene thiophene):poly (styrene sulfonic acid) (PEDOT:PSS)-free organic solar cells (OSCs) using buffer and anode combined Ta doped $In_2O_3$ (ITaO) electrodes. To optimize the ITaO electrodes, we investigated the effect of $Ta_2O_5$ doping power on the electrical, optical, and structural properties of the co-sputtered ITaO films. The optimized ITaO film doped with 20 W $Ta_2O_5$ radio frequency power showed sheet resistance of 17.11 Ohm/square, a transmittance of 93.45%, and a work function of 4.9 eV, all of which are comparable to the value of conventional ITO electrodes. The conventional bulk heterojunction OSC with ITaO anode showed a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 3.348% similar to the OSCs (3.541%) with an ITO anode. In addition, OSCs fabricated on an ITaO electrode successfully operated without an acidic PEDOT:PSS buffer layer and showed a PCE of 2.634%, which was much higher than the comparable no buffer OSC with an ITO anode. Therefore, co-sputtered ITaO electrodes simultaneously acting as a buffer and an anode layer can be considered promising transparent electrodes for cost-efficient and reliable OSCs because they can eliminate the use of an acidic PEDOT:PSS buffer layer.