• Polymer Science and Technology
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.212-219
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• 2008

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.49-55
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• 2022

With rapid growth in light-harvesting efficiency from 3.8 to 25.8%, organic-inorganic hybrid perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have attracted great attention as promising photovoltaic devices. However, despite of their outstanding performance, the commercialization of PSCs has been suffered from severe stability issues, especially for UV and humidity: (i) UV irradiation towards PSCs is able to lead UV-induced decomposition of perovskite films or catalytic reactions of charge-transporting layers, and (ii) exposure to surrounding humidity causes irreversible hydration of perovskite layers by the penetration of water molecules, resulting considerable decrease in their power-conversion efficiency (PCE). This review investigates current status of strategies to enhance UV and humidity stability of PSCs in terms of UV-management and moisture protection, respectively. Furthermore, the multifunctional approach to increase long-term stability as well as performance is discussed as advanced research directions for the commercialization of PSCs.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.08a
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• pp.76-76
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• 2011

Polymer-fullerene based bulk heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells can be fabricated in large area using low-cost roll-to-roll manufacturing methods. However, because of the low mobility of the BHJ materials, there is competition between the sweep-out of the photogenerated carriers by the built-in potential and recombination within the thin BHJ film [12-15]. Useful film thicknesses are limited by recombination. Thus, there is a need to increase the absorption by the BHJ film without increasing film thickness. Metal nanoparticles exhibit localized surface plasmon resonances (LSPR) which couple strongly to the incident light. In addition, relatively large metallic nanoparticles can reflect and scatter the light and thereby increase the optical path length within the BHJ film. Thus, the addition of metal nanoparticles into BHJ films offers the possibility of enhanced absorption and correspondingly enhanced photo-generation of mobile carriers. In this work, we have demonstrated several positive effects of shape controlled Au and Ag nanoparticles in organic P3HT/PC70BM, PCDTBT/PC70BM, Si-PCPDTBT/PC70BM BHJ-based PV devices. The use of an optimized concentration of Au and Ag nanomaterials in the BHJ film increases Jsc, FF, and the IPCE. These improvements result from a combination of enhanced light absorption caused by the light scattering of the nanomaterials in an active layer. Some of the metals induce the plasmon light concentration at specific wavelength. Moreover, improved charge transport results in low series resistance.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.392-397
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• 2022

We present the structural and optical properties of Au@TiO₂ core-shell microsphere structure prepared by a hydrothermal synthesis method. As a way to improve the efficiency of organic solar cells, the Au@TiO₂ core-shell microsphere was synthesized to use the local surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) phenomenon. The synthesized results were confirmed to have the Au@TiO₂ core-shell structure using a high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. An absorption was observed to occur at 527 nm belonging to the visible light region using a visible light spectroscopy, which supports the LSPR phenomenon. We suggest that the Au@TiO₂ core-shell microsphere is highly likely to be applied to organic solar cells including dye-sensitized solar cells. In addition, we expect it to be widely used not only in the energy but also in the bio as well as in the environmental fields.

• Prospectives of Industrial Chemistry
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.15-29
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• 2021

최근 유기태양전지 분야의 큰 진보는 비풀러렌 전자수용체 소재의 등장에 의해 달성되었다. 비풀러렌 기반 유기광활성층은 기존 풀러렌 기반 소자의 내재적 한계로 지적되던 높은 에너지 손실을 극복하고 동시에 소재의 흡광대역 확장을 통한 광전류밀도 증가로 유기태양전지 성능을 지속적으로 개선하고 있다. 더불어 비풀러렌 소재는 화학 구조의 개질 용이성으로 밴드갭 자유 제어가 가능하므로, 광활성층의 흡광 대역을 정밀하게 제어하면 반투명 태양전지, 실내 저조도 태양전지, 파장선택적 광검출기, 소재융합형 소자 등 다양한 광전자소자 응용이 가능하여 주목받고 있다. 본 기고문에서는 유기태양전지 광활성층에 활용되는 비풀러렌 소재의 최신 연구 동향과 전망을 다루고자 한다.

• 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.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.11a
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• pp.350-354
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• 2009

In this work, polymer - inorganic composites have prepared using polymer such as polyethylene glycol (PEG)/poly (methyl methacrylate, PMMA) and inorganic nanofillers materials such as TiO2 nanotubes (TiNTs)/carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The extensive structural, morphological and ionic properties revealed that the high surface area and tubular feature of nanofillers improved the interaction and cross-linking to polymer matrix which is significantly enhanced the ionic conductivity and electrical properties of composite electrolytes. Comparably high conversion efficiency ~4.5% has been observed by using the newly prepared PEG-TiNTs composite solid electrolyte as compared with PMMA-CNTs electrolyte based DSSCs (~3%). The detailed comparative properties would be discussed in term of their structural, morphology, ionic and photovoltaic properties.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.02a
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• pp.329-329
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• 2011

We investigated the thin films of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and C61-butyric acid methylester (PCBM) prepared by ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) electrospray depositioin (ESD) by using in-situ XPS, UPS and ambient-pressure AFM. The morphology, chemical structures, and interface properties of these materials, most widely used for bulk heterojunction organic solar cells, were studied depending on the ESD solution compositions and concentrations. We found that the solution conductivity and flow rate as well as applied voltage are the important parameters for stable electrospray and film formation. These results suggest that UHV ESD is a viable method for the deposition of multilayers of polymers under UHV condition. We also discuss the energy level alignment for the various deposition conditions at the interface, which is one of the most important operating parameters of the bulk heterojunction organic solar cells.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.02a
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• pp.268-268
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• 2010

The performance dependence of the P3HT:PCBM based bulk hetero-junction (BHJ) organic solar cells (OSCs) on the electrical and the optical properties of amorphous InZnSnO (a-IZTO) electrodes as a difference in film thicknesses are examined. With an increasing of the a-IZTO thickness, the series resistance ($R_{series}$) of the OSCs is reduced because of the reduction of sheet resistance ($R_{sheet}$) of a-IZTO electrodes. Additionally, It was found that the photocurrent density ($J_{sc}$) and the fill factor (FF) in OSCs are mainly affected by the electrical conductivity of the a-IZTO anode films rather than the optical transparency at thinner a-IZTO films. On the other hand, despite the much lower $R_{series}$ comes from thicker anode films, the dominant factor affecting the $J_{sc}$ became average optical transmittance of a-IZTO electrodes as well as power conversion efficiency (PCE) in same device configuration due to the thick anode films had as sufficiently low $R_{sheet}$ to extract the hole carrier from the active material.

• 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 $100\;mW/cm^2$.