• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.1-5
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• 2024

Perovskite solar cells have exhibited a remarkable increase in efficiency from an initial 3.8% to 26.1%, marking a significant advancement. However, challenges persist in the commercialization of perovskite solar cells due to their low stability with respect to humidity, light exposure, and temperature. Moreover, the instability of the organic charge transport layer underscores the need for exploring inorganic alternatives. In the manufacturing process of the perovskite solar cells' oxide charge transport layer, ultraviolet-ozone (UVO) treatment is commonly applied to enhance the wettability of the perovskite solution. The UVO treatment on metal oxides has proven effective in suppressing surface oxygen vacancies and removing surface organic contaminants. This study focused on the characterization of nickel oxide as the hole transport material in perovskite solar cells, specifically investigating the impact of UVO treatment on film properties. Through this analysis, changes induced by the UVO treatment were observed, and consequent alterations in the device characteristics were identified.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.73-77
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• 2021

Inorganic-organic hybrid perovskite solar cells have demonstrated considerable improvements, reaching 25.5% of certified power conversion efficiency in 2020 from 3.8% in 2009. In normal structured perovskite solar cells, TiO2 electron-transporting materials require heat treatment process at a high temperature over 450℃ to induce crystallinity. Inverted perovskite solar cells have also been studied to exclude the additional thermal process by using [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) as a non-oxide electron-transporting layer. However, the drawback of the PCBM layer is a charge accumulation at the interface between PCBM and a metal electrode. The impact of bathocuproin (BCP) buffer layer on photovoltaic performance has been investigated herein to solve the problem of PCBM. 2-mM BCP-modified perovskite solar cells were observed to exhibit a maximum efficiency of 12.03% compared with BCP-free counterparts (5.82%) due to the suppression of the charge accumulation at the PCBM-Au interface and the resulting reduction of the charge recombination between perovskite and the PCBM layer.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2011.05a
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• pp.120.2-120.2
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• 2011

The improvement of solar energy-to-electricity conversion efficiency has continued to be an important research area of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The mechanism of DSSCs is based on the injection of electrons from the photoexcited dye into the conduction band of nanocrystalline TiO2 or ZnO. Thus, the electronic structures, such as HOMO, LUMO, and HOMO-LUMO band gaps of dye moleculed in DSSC are deeply related to the electron transfer by photoexcitation and redox potential. Organic dyes, because of their many advantages, such as high molar extinction coefficients, convenience of customized molecular design for desired photophysical and photochemical properties, inexpensiveness with no transition metals contained, and environment-friendliness, are suitable as photosensitizers for DSSC. We believe that practically useful organic dye photosensitizers can be produced by exploiting electron donor/acceptor system with proper length of ${\pi}$-conjugation in a chromophore to control the absorption wavelength and enhance the photovoltaic performance. In this research, We designed and synthesized organic dyes also investigated the photoelectrochemical properties of a series of ionic dyes in DSSCs.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.02a
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• pp.301-301
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• 2010

In order to enhance the efficiency of the organic solar cells, the effects of plasma surface treatment with using $CF_4$ and $O_2$ gas on the anode ITO were studied. The polymer solar cell devices were fabricated on ITO glasses an active layer of P3HT (poly-3-hexylthiophene) and PCBM ([6,6]-phenyl C61-butyric acid methyl ester) mixture, without anode buffer layer, such as PEDOT:PSS layer. The metallic electrode was formed by thermally evaporated Al. Before the coating of organic layers, ITO surface was exposed to plasma made of $CF_4$ and $O_2$ gas, with/without heat treatment. In order to identify the effect the surface treatment, the current density and voltage characteristics were measured by solar simulator and the chemical composition of plasma treated ITO surface was analyzed by using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS). In addition, the work function of the plasma treated ITO surface was measured by using ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy(UPS). The effects of plasma surface treatment can be attributed to the removal organic contaminants of the ITO surface, to the improvement of contact between ITO and buffer layer, and to the increase of work function of the ITO.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2004.04a
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• pp.31-34
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• 2004

During the last 20 years organic semiconductors have attracted considerable attention due to their interesting physical properties followed by various technological applications in the area of electronics and opto-electronics. It has been a long time since organic solar cells were expected as a low-cost energy-conversion device. Although practical use of them has not been achieved, technological progress continues. Morphology of the materials, organic/inorganic interface, metal cathodes, molecular packing and structural properties of the donor and acceptor layers are essential for photovoltaic response. We have fabricated solar cell devices based on zinc-phthalocyanine(ZnPc) as donor(D) and fullerine$(C_{60})$ as electron acceptor(A) with doped charge transport layers, $Alq_3$ as an electron transport or injection layer. We observed the photovoltaic characteristics of the solar celt devices using the Xe lamp as a light source.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.02a
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• pp.157-158
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• 2013

Organic solar cell was fabricated using one-pot deposition of a mixture of NiO nanoparticles, P3HT and PCBM. In the presence of NiO, the photovoltaic performance was slightly increased comparing to that of the device without NiO. When $TiO_2$ thin films with a thickness of 2~3 nm was prepared on NiO nanoparticles using atomic layer deposition, the power conversion efficiency was increased by a factor 2.5 with respect to that with bare NiO. Moreover, breakdown voltage of the film consisting of NiO, P3HT, and PCBM on indium tin oxide was increased by more than 1 V in the presence of $TiO_2$-shell on NiO nanoparticles. It is evidenced that S atoms of P3HT can be oxidized on NiO surfaces, and $TiO_2$-shell on NiO nanoparticles. It is evidenced that S atoms of P3HT can be oxidzed on NiO surfaces, and $TiO_2$ shell heavily reduced oxidation of S at oxide/P3HT interfaces. Oxidized S atoms can most likely act as carrier generation sites and recombination centers within the depletion region, decreasing breakdown voltage and performance of organic solar cells. Our result shows that fabrication of various core-shell nanostruecutres of oxides by atomic layer deposition with controlled film thickness can be of potential importance for fabricating highly efficient organic solar cells.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.08a
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• pp.74-74
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• 2011

Polymer solar cells utilize bulk heterojunction (BHJ) type photo-active layer in which the electron donating polymer and electron accepting C60 derivatives are mixed together. In the BHJ system the electron donating polymer and electron accepting C60 derivatives are blended. The blended system causes charge recombination at the interface between the BHJ active layer and electrode. To reduce the charge recombination at the interface, it is needed to use an interlayer that can selectively transfer electrons or holes. We have developed solution processable wide band gap inorganic interfacial layers for polymer solar cells. The effect of interlayers on the performance of polymer solar cell was investigated for various types of conjugated polymers. We have found that inorganic interfacial layers enhanced the solar cell efficiency through the reduction of charge recombination at the interface between active layer and electrode. Furthermore, the stability of the polymer solar cell using the interlayer was significantly improved. The efficiency of 6.5% was obtained from the PTB7:PCBM70 based solar cells utilizing $TiO_2$nanoparticles as an interlayers.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.32 no.8
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• pp.2553-2559
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• 2011

Two novel quinacridone (QNC) dyes with thiophene or benzene-conjugated bridge and cyanoacrylic acid acceptor were first designed and synthesized for use in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The absorption spectra, electrochemical and photovoltaic properties of these dyes were investigated. Under simulated AM 1.5G irradiation conditions, the solar cell based on the quinacridone dye containing thiophene as a bridge unit had a short-circuit photocurrent density of 8.51 $mA{\cdot}cm^{-2}$, an open-circuit voltage of 643.6 mV, and a fill factor of 0.70, corresponding to an overall conversion efficiency of 3.86%.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.1029-1036
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• 2012

Push-pull-type copolymers - low-band-gap copolymers of electron-rich fused-ring units (such as cyclopentadithiophene; CPDT) and electron-deficient units (such as benzothiadiazole; BT) - are promising donor materials for organic solar cells. Following a design principles proposed in our previous study, we investigate the electronic structure of a series of new CPDTBT derivatives with various electron-withdrawing groups using the time-dependent density functional theory and predict their power conversion efficiency from a newlydeveloped protocol using the Scharber diagram. Significantly improved efficiencies are expected for derivatives with carbonyl [C=O], carbonothioyl [C=S], dicyano [$C(CN)_2$] and dicyanomethylene [C=$C(CN)_2$] groups, but these polymers with no long alkyl side chain attached to them are likely to be insoluble in most organic solvents and inapplicable to low-cost solution processes. We thus devise several approaches to attach alkyl side chains to these polymers while keeping their high efficiencies.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2011.05a
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• pp.117.1-117.1
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• 2011

We have demonstrated Forst-type resonance energy transfer (FRET) in the quasi-solid type dye-sensitized solar cells between organic fluorescence materials as an energy donor doped in polymeric gel electrolyte and ruthenium complex as an energy acceptor on surface of $TiO_2$. The strong spectral overlap of emission/absorption of energy donor and acceptor is required to get high FRET efficiency. The judicious choice of energy donor allows the enhancement of light harvesting characters of energy acceptor in quasi-solid dye sensitized solar cells which increase the power conversion efficiency. The enhanced light harvesting effect by the judicious choice/design of the fluorescence materials and sensitizing dyes permits the enhancement of photovoltaic performance of DSSC.