Fabrication of Nanorod Arrays for Organic Solar Cell Applications

2004 ◽  
Vol 836 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Huang ◽  
Harry Efstathiadis ◽  
Pradeep Haldar ◽  
Hee-Gyoun Lee

ABSTRACTWe report on a novel use of nanorod arrays for organic based solar cell devices. A metal foil with copper nanorods attached to the surface was developed by electrodepositing copper from a copper sulfate solution into an anodic alumina oxide (AAO) template that had been coated with a metal on one side. The AAO membrane was dissolved in NaOH leaving behind an aligned array of copper nanorods. This nanorod array was evaluated to explore the possibility of increasing the power conversion efficiency of organic solar cells. Nanorod array characteristics were investigated by focus ion beam, scanning electron microscopy, and x-ray diffraction spectroscopy. A solar cell device was made by applying a polymer layer of poly(2-methoxy-5-(3', 7'-dimethyloctyloxy)-1, 4-phenylene-vinylene) (MDMO-PPV) mixed with 6, 6 phentl-C61-butyl acid-methylester (PCBM) onto the copper nanorod array and sandwiching it with a film of poly(3, 4-ethylenedioxythiophene): poly(styrene-sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) applied onto a indium tin oxide coated glass substrate.

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (10) ◽  
pp. 375-378
Author(s):  
Muhammad Zeeshan ◽  

Efficiency and stability are the main challenges of organic solar cells. In this research novel structure is investigated for organic solar cell which has improved efficiency and improved stability. Blend of PTB7 and PCBM elements was used for the active layer of cell. Thickness of this layer was varied from 80nm to 200nm and selected the optimized thickness of 90nm. On which the cell has maximum efficiency of 12.24 %. The influence of window layer material such as Zinc oxide (ZnO) and titanium dioxide (TiO2) with various electrode materials including Indium tin oxide (ITO), Fluorine tin oxide (FTO), aluminum (Al) Silver (Ag) and Gold (Au) with different combinations have been investigated with the objective to enhance the absorption and PCE of the cell. Also varied the thicknesses of these different layers and selected the optimized thickness on which the cell had maximum efficiency. The structure of the proposed scheme was observed with ITO/Al as top and bottom electrode with thicknesses of 125nm and 100nm respectively and found that this holds the highest performance parameters including Jsc=0.130(mA/m2), Voc= 1 (V), FF=94.1% and ƞ=12.24% respectively as compared to different electrode combination and window layers with the same photoactive absorber material PTB7: PCBM. This indicates that the proposed structure can be a good choice for replacing less efficient in-organic cell.


RSC Advances ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (44) ◽  
pp. 23149-23154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xuxin Pu ◽  
Jie Liu ◽  
Jie Liang ◽  
Yusheng Xia ◽  
Wuliang Feng ◽  
...  

The cell with CdS/ZnO nanorod array (NRAs) antireflection coatings exhibits lower reflectance and better light trapping ability than the c-Si solar cell.


Author(s):  
Khizar Jahangir ◽  
Ghazi Aman Nowsherwan ◽  
Syed Sajjad Hussain ◽  
Saira Riaz ◽  
Shahzad Naseem

The growing requirement for electricity and its inadequate fossil fuel supply is a global concern that's why organic solar cell (OSC) devices had more attraction in the last decades for their practical application. In this research study, GPVDM software is considered, a 3-D photovoltaic device model, used to observe the outcomes of PTB7: PC70BM based organic solar cell. The organic solar cell comprises a PTB7:PC70BM as an active layer, indium tin oxide (ITO) serving as a transparent conducting oxide, and front electrode, PEDOT: PSS for efficient transporting of holes, while Al is taken as a back metal electrode. The electrical simulation via GPVDM has been performed at different active layer thicknesses and charge carrier mobility. Furthermore, the influence of varying different HTM layers had also been studied. The optimum efficiency of OSC is obtained at 200 nm active layer thickness and carrier mobility of 2.46 x 106 m2/Vs. The outcomes and performance of the simulated organic solar cell are compared with the practically implemented organic solar cell. This research also suggests a possible path toward the efficient implementation of organic solar cells by modifying factors that are significantly reliant on the performance and outcomes of OSCs.


2003 ◽  
Vol 762 ◽  
Author(s):  
Z.B. Zhou ◽  
G.M. Hadi ◽  
R.Q. Cui ◽  
Z.M. Ding ◽  
G. Li

AbstractBased on a small set of selected publications on the using of nanocrystalline silicon films (nc-Si) for solar cell from 1997 to 2001, this paper reviews the application of nc-Si films as intrinsic layers in p-i-n solar cells. The new structure of nc-Si films deposited at high chamber pressure and high hydrogen dilution have characters of nanocrystalline grains with dimension about several tens of nanometer embedded in matrix of amorphous tissue and a high volume fraction of crystallinity (60~80%). The new nc-Si material have optical gap of 1.89 eV. The efficiency of this single junction solar cell reaches 8.7%. This nc-Si layer can be used not only as an intrinsic layer and as a p-type layer. Also nanocrystalline layer may be used as a seed layer for the growth of polycrystalline Si films at a low temperature.We used single ion beam sputtering methods to synthesize nanocrystalline silicon films successfully. The films were characterized with the technique of X-ray diffraction, Atomic Force Micrographs. We found that the films had a character of nc-amorphous double phase structure. Conductivity test at different temperatures presented the transportation of electrons dominated by different mechanism within different temperature ranges. Photoconductivity gains of the material were obtained in our recent investigation.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Morgan ◽  
Maryam Nazari ◽  
Thomas Pickl ◽  
J. Mikko Rautiainen ◽  
Heikki M. Tuononen ◽  
...  

The electrophilic borylation of 2,5-diarylpyrazines results in the formation of boron-nitrogen doped dihydroindeno[1,2-<i>b</i>]fluorene which can be synthesized via mildly air-sensitive techniques and the end products handled readily under atmosphereic conditions. Through transmetallation via diarylzinc reagents a series of derivatives were sythesized which show broad absorption profiles that highlight the versatility of this backbone to be used in organic solar cell devices. These compounds can be synthesized in large yields, in alow number of steps and functionalized at many stages along the way providing a large depth of possibilities. Exploratory device paramaters were studied and show PCE of 2%.


Author(s):  
Jie Lv ◽  
Hua Tang ◽  
Jiaming Huang ◽  
Cenqi Yan ◽  
Kuan Liu ◽  
...  

Due to the barrierless free charge generation, low charge trapping, and high charge mobilities, the PM6:Y6 organic solar cell (OSC) achieves excellent power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 15.7%. However, the...


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Wageh ◽  
Mahfoudh Raïssi ◽  
Thomas Berthelot ◽  
Matthieu Laurent ◽  
Didier Rousseau ◽  
...  

AbstractPoly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) mixed with single-wall nanotubes (SWNTs) (10:1) and doped with (0.1 M) perchloric acid (HClO4) in a solution-processed film, working as an excellent thin transparent conducting film (TCF) in organic solar cells, was investigated. This new electrode structure can be an outstanding substitute for conventional indium tin oxide (ITO) for applications in flexible solar cells due to the potential of attaining high transparency with enhanced conductivity, good flexibility, and good durability via a low-cost process over a large area. In addition, solution-processed vanadium oxide (VOx) doped with a small amount of PEDOT-PSS(PH1000) can be applied as a hole transport layer (HTL) for achieving high efficiency and stability. From these viewpoints, we investigate the benefit of using printed SWNTs-PEDOT-PSS doped with HClO4 as a transparent conducting electrode in a flexible organic solar cell. Additionally, we applied a VOx-PEDOT-PSS thin film as a hole transporting layer and a blend of PTB7 (polythieno[3,4-b] thiophene/benzodithiophene): PC71BM (phenyl-C71-butyric acid methyl ester) as an active layer in devices. Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles were applied as an electron transport layer and Ag was used as the top electrode. The proposed solar cell structure showed an enhancement in short-circuit current, power conversion efficiency, and stability relative to a conventional cell based on ITO. This result suggests a great carrier injection throughout the interfacial layer, high conductivity and transparency, as well as firm adherence for the new electrode.


Author(s):  
Venkatesh Piradi ◽  
Feng Yan ◽  
Xunjin Zhu ◽  
Wai-Yeung Raymond Wong

Organic solar cells (OSCs) have been considered as a promising cost-effective alternative to silicon-based solar cell counterparts due to their lightweight, mechanical flexibility, and easy fabrication features. Over the past...


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (6) ◽  
pp. 3512-3518
Author(s):  
Saleh Khan ◽  
Xiao-He Liu ◽  
Xi Jiang ◽  
Qing-Yun Chen

Highly efficient and effective porous ZnO nanorod arrays were fabricated by annealing ZnO nanorod arrays grown on a substrate using a simple hydrothermal method. The annealing had a positive effect on the nanorod morphology, structure and optical properties. The porosity was closely related to the annealing temperature. After heating at 450 °C, pores appeared on the nanorods. It was demonstrated that the porosity could be exploited to improve the visible light absorption of ZnO and reduce the bandgap from 3.11 eV to 2.99 eV. A combination of improved charge separation and transport of the heat-treated ZnO thus led to an increase in the photoelectrochemical properties. At an irradiation intensity of 100 mW/cm−2, the photocurrent density of the porous nanorod array was approximately 1.3 mA cm−2 at 1.2 V versus Ag/AgCl, which was five times higher than that of the ZnO nanorods. These results revealed the synthesis of promising porous ZnO nanorods for photoelectrochemical applications.


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