• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2009.05a
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• pp.11.1-11.1
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• 2009

Bulk-heterojunction type organic photovoltaic cells have been remarkably improved due to the development of efficient donors and post treatment process. However, most of researchers have studied on the OPVs using spin-coating method during the past decade. To commercialize the OPVs, much cheaper printing process should be developed such as inkjet, screen, gravure, and so on. In this study, we have focused on the development of printing technology using Inkjet and Aerosol-Jet printing, which can offer reliable device performance. Finally, 4.5% power conversion efficiency can be achieved under AM 1.5 1sun light illumination, which is the highest value in printed OPVs. We reveal that substantial improvement can be realized by highly efficient bulk heterojunction after printing. Also, we can confirm these two printing methods are promising fabrication methods for large area OPVs. Also, flexible and large area (18 cm2) printed OPVs have been fabricated and device performance will be discussed in detail.

• Vacuum Magazine
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.12-16
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• 2015

Organic photovoltaics (OPVs) have attracted significant interest in an interdisciplinary research field for the decades as a next-generation photovoltaic device due to their unique advantages. One of requirements for OPVs having high power conversion efficiency is the favorable energy level alignment between the electrode/organic and organic/organic interfaces to manage the exciton dissociation and improve the charge transport. In this review, strategies to enhance the OPV performance by controlling the energy level alignment are discussed. The insertion of an exciton blocking layer leads to the efficient dissociation of photogenerated excitons at the donor/acceptor interface enhancing the short-circuit current density. The choice of a donor having a high ionization energy and an acceptor having a low electron affinity increases the open-circuit voltage. The insertion of an appropriate work function modifier which reduces the charge injection barrier removes the S-kink in current density-voltage characteristics of OPVs and improves the fill factor. This review would give a valuable guide to design the efficient OPV structure.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2009.11a
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• pp.5.1-5.1
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• 2009

Organic photovoltaic (OPV)cells have attracted considerable attention due to their potential for flexible, lightweight, and low-cost application of solar energy conversion. Since a 1% power conversion efficiency (PCE) OPV based on a single donor-acceptor heterojunction was reported by Tang, the PCE has steadily improved around 5%. It is well known that a high parallel (shunt)resistance and a low series resistance are required simultaneously to achieve ideal photovoltaic devices. The device should be free of leakage current through the device to maximize the parallel resistance. The series resistance is attributed to the ohmic loss in the whole device, which includes the bulk resistance and the contact resistance. The bulk resistance originated from the bulk resistance of the organic layer and the electrodes; the contact resistance comes from the interface between the electrodes and the active layer. Furthermore, it has been reported that the bulk resistance of the indium tin oxide (ITO) of the devices dominates the series resistance of OPVs for a large area more than $0.01\;cm^2$. Therefore, in practical application, the large area of ITO may significantly reduce the device performance. In this work, we investigated the effect of sheet resistance ($R_{sh}$) of deposited ITO on the performance of OPVs. It was found that the device performance of polythiophene-fullerene (P3HT:PCBM) bulk heterojunction OPVs was critically dependent on Rsh of the ITO electrode. With decreasing $R_{sh}$ of the ITO from 39 to $8.5\;{\Omega}/{\square}$, the fill factor (FF) of OPVs was dramatically improved from 0.407 to 0.580, resulting in improvement of PCE from $1.63{\pm}0.2$ to $2.5{\pm}0.1%$ underan AM1.5 simulated solar intensity of $100\;mW/cm^2$.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.43-48
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• 2015

Silver nanowire (AgNW) is a material that is increasingly being used for transparent electrodes, as a substitute for indium tin oxide (ITO), owing to its flexibility, high transmittance to sheet resistance ratio, and simple production process. This study involves manufacturing large-area organic photovoltaic cells (OPVs) deposited on AgNW electrodes. We compared the efficiency of OPVs with ITO and AgNW electrodes. The results verified that an OPV with an AgNW electrode performed better than that with an ITO electrode. Furthermore, by using the knife coating method, we successfully fabricated large-area OPVs without the loss of efficiency. Use of AgNW instead of ITO demonstrated that an OPV could be produced on various substrates by the solution process method, dropping the productions costs significantly. Additionally, by using the knife coating method, the process time and amount of wasted solution are reduced. This leads to an increase in the efficient fabrication of the OPV.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2011.11a
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• pp.57.1-57.1
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• 2011

We studied the performance of CdSe nanoparticle in the active layer of organic photovoltaics (OPVs) by changing concentration of the CdSe NPs in the P3HT:PCBM layer. We observed that the absorption peak value gradually increases with the increasing amount of CdSe NPs at 600nm wave length. However, the electrical properties of OPVs correspond less with the tendency of UV/visible result. The highest performance was shown with 10% of CdSe NPs. The device performance decreased after 10% of CdSe NPs, this shows the dependencies of performanc of hybrid solar cells on the CdSe NPs loading amount. The resulting OPVs with 10 % of CdSe NPs show a short circuit current density ($J_{sc}$) of $6.96mA/cm^2$, open circuit voltage ($V_{oc}$) of 0.61V, fill factor (FF) of 0.59, and power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 2.53% under AM 1.5 ($100mW/cm^2$).

• Applied Science and Convergence Technology
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.151-155
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• 2015

The interfacial electronic structure between zinc phthalocyanine (ZnPc) and aluminumdoped zinc oxide (AZO) substrates has been evaluated by ultraviolet photoemission spectroscopy and angle-dependent x-ray absorption spectroscopy to understanding the molecular orientation of a ZnPc layer on the performance of small molecule organic photovoltaics (OPVs). We find that the ZnPc tilt angle improves the ${\pi}-{\pi}$ interaction on the AZO substrate, thus leading to an improved short-circuit current in OPVs based on phthalocyanine. Furthermore, the molecular orientation-dependent energy level alignment has been analyzed in detail using ultraviolet photoemission spectroscopy. We also obtained complete energy level diagrams of ZnPc/AZO and ZnPc/indium thin oxide.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2011.07a
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• pp.1266-1267
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• 2011

We studied the influence of cathode material on the stability of organic phtovoltaics (OPVs). OPVs with LiF/Al and Ag/Ca/Ag cathode were fabricated and the stability were evaluated. The sample with LiF/Al cathode showed efficiency degradation from 2.42% to 2.04% during 50 days. On the other hand, the sample with Ag/Ca/Ag cathode showed more steeper efficiency degradation from 2.38% to 0.80% during 50 days. The different of degradation can be attributed to a larger increase of series resistance ($R_s$) in Ag/Ca/Ag cathode sample.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2015.08a
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• pp.120.2-120.2
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• 2015

We propose a novel direct writing technique with a femtosecond laser enabling selective modification of not only the morphology of conducting polymer thin films but also the orientation and alignment of the polymer crystal. Surface relief gratings resulting from photoexpansion on P3HT:PCBM and PEDOT:PSS thin films were fabricated by femtosecond laser direct writing. The photoexpansion was induced at laser fluence below the ablation threshold of the thin film. The morphology (size and shape) of photoexpansion could be quantitatively controlled by laser writing parameters such as focused beam size, writing speed, and laser fluence. GIWAX results showed that face-on P3HT crystals were largely increased in the photoexpansion in comparison with pristine region of the thin film. In addition, the face-on P3HTs in the photoexpansion were aligned with their orientation along the polarization of the laser. The micro-RAMAN spectra confirmed that neither chemical composition change nor the polymer chain breaking was observable after femtosecond laser irradiation. We believe that this laser direct writing technique opens a new door to the fabrication of more efficient OPVs via non-contact, toxic-free approach.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.390-393
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• 2009

We report on a new patterning technique for organic functional materials applicable to organic photovoltacis (OPVs). The unconventioal patterning technique, $O_2$ plsama-etching selectively perfluoro-alkyl fluorosilanes, is used for producing a bulk-heterojunction active layer with poly(3-hexylthiophene) as the electron donor and [6,6]-phenyl-$C_{61}$ butyric acid methyl ester as the electron acceptor. The patterning with reduced leakage path and parasitic capacitance suggests a way for fabrication of OPVs with higher energy conversion efficiency.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.327-327
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• 2013

본 연구에서는 $SiO_2$ Target과 $In_2O_3$ Target으로 co-sputtering방법을 이용해 증착한 Si-doped $In_2O_3$ (ISO) 박막의 Si 도핑 농도에 따른 전기적, 광학적, 구조적 특성에 대해 연구하였고, 이를 유기태양 전지(OPVs) 에 적용함으로써 그 가능성을 타진하였다. $In_2O_3$ target의 DC power를 100 W로 고정시킨 채 $SiO_2$ target의 RF power 크기를 20~60 W 변화시키면서 상온에서 실험을 진행한 결과 최적 조건은 박막의 두께가 200 nm일 때 Working pressure는 3 mTorr이고, RF power는 50 W이었다. 이 조건으로 제작된 ISO 박막은 550 nm에서 81.51%의 광투과율과 51.91 Ohm/sq.의 비교적 낮은 면저항이 나타남을 Hall measurement 및 UV/Vis spectroscopy 분석을 통해 알 수 있었다. 또한 X-ray diffraction 분석법과 Transmission Electron Microscope 분석법을 통해 $SiO_2$ 도핑 power가 50 W 이상으로 증가할 경우 ISO 박막의 결정성이 감소하여 완벽한 비정질상의 ISO 투명박막이 형성됨을 확인할 수 있었다. 비정질 특성을 갖는 ISO 투명 전극을 이용하여 유기 박막형 태양전지를 제작한 결과 Voc (0.576 V), Jsc (7.671 mA/$cm^2$), FF (62.96%), PCE (2.78%)의 특성을 나타냄으로서 co-sputtering 공정을 통해 최적화된 ISO 박막을 유기 박막형 태양전지에 적용함으로써 광전소자로의 적용 가능성을 확인할 수 있었다.