Effect of Oxygen Concentration on Properties of Indium Zinc Oxide Thin Films for Flexible Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell

Indium zinc oxide (In2O3–ZnO, IZO) thin films were prepared with variation of oxygen concentration in Ar sputtering gas using rf magnetron sputtering system. Transmittance was greatly improved from 75 to 90% since surface roughness slightly decreased by adding oxygen and low resistivity of 3.28×10-4 Ω cm was achieved at 0.4% oxygen concentration. The performance of dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC) was also studied by fabricating cells with IZO thin films using UV/ozone treatment. According to the results, the efficiency was strongly affected by both transmittance and resistivity of IZO thin films deposited at different oxygen concentrations. Finally, the highest efficiency of 3.11% was achieved from IZO films deposited with 0.4% oxygen concentration, which exhibits a promising application of IZO thin films to flexible DSSC.

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