High Photoelectric Conversion Efficiency of Metal Phthalocyanine/Fullerene Heterojunction Photovoltaic Device

This paper introduces the fundamental physical characteristics of organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices. Photoelectric conversion efficiency is crucial to the evaluation of quality in OPV devices, and enhancing efficiency has been spurring on researchers to seek alternatives to this problem. In this paper, we focus on organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices and review several approaches to enhance the energy conversion efficiency of small molecular heterojunction OPV devices based on an optimal metal-phthalocyanine/fullerene (C60) planar heterojunction thin film structure. For the sake of discussion, these mechanisms have been divided into electrical and optical sections: (1) Electrical: Modification on electrodes or active regions to benefit carrier injection, charge transport and exciton dissociation; (2) Optical: Optional architectures or infilling to promote photon confinement and enhance absorption.

[1]  Franky So,et al.  Interface Modification to Improve Hole‐Injection Properties in Organic Electronic Devices , 2006 .

[2]  Young Ran Park,et al.  Organic Solar Cells with Hydrogenated In-Doped ZnO Replacing Sn-Doped In2O3 as Transparent Electrode , 2008 .

[3]  Karl Pichler,et al.  Exciton dissociation at a poly(p-phenylenevinylene)/C60 heterojunction , 1996 .

[4]  Barry P Rand,et al.  Enhanced open-circuit voltage in subphthalocyanine/C60 organic photovoltaic cells. , 2006, Journal of the American Chemical Society.

[5]  David L. Carroll,et al.  Roles of Au and Ag nanoparticles in efficiency enhancement of poly(3-octylthiophene)/C60 bulk heterojunction photovoltaic devices , 2005 .

[6]  Domenico Pacifici,et al.  Plasmonic nanostructure design for efficient light coupling into solar cells. , 2008, Nano letters.

[7]  Stephen R. Forrest,et al.  Ultrathin Organic Films Grown by Organic Molecular Beam Deposition and Related Techniques. , 1997, Chemical reviews.

[8]  Tuning of Metal Work Functions with Self-Assembled Monolayers , 2004 .

[9]  V. Roy,et al.  Improving efficiency of organic photovoltaic cells with pentacene-doped CuPc layer , 2007 .

[10]  S. T. Lee,et al.  Application of metal-doped organic layer both as exciton blocker and optical spacer for organic photovoltaic devices , 2006 .

[11]  Sang-Hyun Oh,et al.  Plasmonic nanocavity arrays for enhanced efficiency in organic photovoltaic cells , 2008, LEOS 2008 - 21st Annual Meeting of the IEEE Lasers and Electro-Optics Society.

[12]  Jiu-Haw Lee,et al.  Modification of silver anode and cathode for a top-illuminated organic photovoltaic device , 2010 .

[13]  J. Hummelen,et al.  Polymer Photovoltaic Cells: Enhanced Efficiencies via a Network of Internal Donor-Acceptor Heterojunctions , 1995, Science.

[14]  Michael Vollmer,et al.  Optical properties of metal clusters , 1995 .

[15]  Yang Yang,et al.  Dipole induced anomalous S-shape I-V curves in polymer solar cells , 2009 .

[16]  Shanhui Fan,et al.  Enhancement of optical absorption in thin-film organic solar cells through the excitation of plasmonic modes in metallic gratings , 2010 .

[17]  Karl Leo,et al.  Organic solar cells on indium tin oxide and aluminum doped zinc oxide anodes , 2007 .

[18]  Max Shtein,et al.  Transparent and conductive electrodes based on unpatterned, thin metal films , 2008 .

[19]  Sheng-Fu Horng,et al.  Highly efficient flexible inverted organic solar cells using atomic layer deposited ZnO as electron selective layer , 2010 .

[20]  T. Shim,et al.  Impact of donor, acceptor, and blocking layer thickness on power conversion efficiency for small-molecular organic solar cells , 2009 .

[21]  D. Ginger,et al.  Plasmon-enhanced charge carrier generation in organic photovoltaic films using silver nanoprisms. , 2010, Nano letters.

[22]  Yi Hong,et al.  Plasmonic-enhanced polymer photovoltaic devices incorporating solution-processable metal nanoparticles , 2009 .

[23]  D. Chung,et al.  Organic photovoltaic effects using CuPc and C60 depending on layer thickness , 2005 .

[24]  S. Maier,et al.  Plasmonics: Localization and guiding of electromagnetic energy in metal/dielectric structures , 2005 .

[25]  Chun-Sing Lee,et al.  Efficient organic photovoltaic devices using a combination of exciton blocking layer and anodic buffer layer , 2006 .

[26]  N. Greenham,et al.  Barriers to electron extraction in polymer light-emitting diodes , 2001 .

[27]  K. Leo,et al.  Controlled current matching in small molecule organic tandem solar cells using doped spacer layers , 2010 .

[28]  Stephen R. Forrest,et al.  Offset energies at organic semiconductor heterojunctions and their influence on the open-circuit voltage of thin-film solar cells , 2007 .

[29]  Tomás Torres,et al.  Subphthalocyanines: singular nonplanar aromatic compounds-synthesis, reactivity, and physical properties. , 2002, Chemical reviews.

[30]  M. Heuken,et al.  Organic Vapor Phase Deposition , 2006 .

[31]  Bei Chu,et al.  Cascade-energy-level alignment based organic photovoltaic cells by utilizing copper phthalocyanine as bipolar carrier transporting layer , 2009 .

[32]  Fang‐Chung Chen,et al.  Spatial redistribution of the optical field intensity in inverted polymer solar cells , 2010 .

[33]  S. Forrest,et al.  Inverted organic photovoltaic cells with high open-circuit voltage , 2010 .

[34]  Jung-Won Kim,et al.  Effects of embedding non-absorbing nanoparticles in organic photovoltaics on power conversion efficiency , 2010 .

[35]  Niyazi Serdar Sariciftci,et al.  Organic solar cells: An overview , 2004 .

[36]  Karl Leo,et al.  Towards efficient tin-doped indium oxide (ITO)-free inverted organic solar cells using metal cathodes , 2009 .

[37]  Liping Ma,et al.  High-speed and high-current density C 60 diodes , 2004 .

[38]  Jan Genoe,et al.  Solar cells utilizing small molecular weight organic semiconductors , 2007 .

[39]  Jung-Yong Lee,et al.  The origin of enhanced optical absorption in solar cells with metal nanoparticles embedded in the active layer. , 2010, Optics express.

[40]  R. Friend,et al.  Improved photoinduced charge carriers separation in organic-inorganic hybrid photovoltaic devices , 2010 .

[41]  Ming-Chang M. Lee,et al.  Study of anode work function modified by self-assembled monolayers on pentacene/fullerene organic solar cells , 2007 .

[42]  Z. H. Huang,et al.  Utilization of copper phthalocyanine and bathocuproine as an electron transport layer in photovoltaic cells with copper phthalocyanine/buckminsterfullerene heterojunctions: Thickness effects on photovoltaic performances , 2007 .

[43]  K. Müllen,et al.  Transparent, conductive graphene electrodes for dye-sensitized solar cells. , 2008, Nano letters.

[44]  Stephen R. Forrest,et al.  Efficient photon harvesting at high optical intensities in ultrathin organic double-heterostructure photovoltaic diodes , 2000 .

[45]  M. Powalla,et al.  Comparative study of the influence of LiF, NaF, and KF on the performance of polymer bulk heterojunction solar cells , 2007 .

[46]  Yi Cui,et al.  Solution-processed metal nanowire mesh transparent electrodes. , 2008, Nano letters.

[47]  C. Brabec,et al.  Origin of the Open Circuit Voltage of Plastic Solar Cells , 2001 .

[48]  Gang Li,et al.  Accurate Measurement and Characterization of Organic Solar Cells , 2006 .

[49]  Galileo Sarasqueta,et al.  Organic/inorganic nanocomposites for high-dielectric-constant materials , 2008 .

[50]  Martin A. Green,et al.  Solar cell efficiency tables , 1993 .

[51]  Stephen R. Forrest,et al.  Very-high-efficiency double-heterostructure copper phthalocyanine/C60 photovoltaic cells , 2001 .

[52]  Monolayer passivation of the transparent electrode in organic solar cells , 2005 .

[53]  Chun-Sing Lee,et al.  Doping-induced efficiency enhancement in organic photovoltaic devices , 2007 .

[54]  S. Chand,et al.  Influence of ZnS quantum dots on optical and photovoltaic properties of poly(3-hexylthiophene) , 2010 .

[55]  Barry P Rand,et al.  On the Role of Bathocuproine in Organic Photovoltaic Cells , 2008 .

[56]  Garry Rumbles,et al.  Organic solar cells with carbon nanotubes replacing In2O3:Sn as the transparent electrode , 2006 .

[57]  J. Meiss,et al.  Improved light harvesting in tin-doped indum oxide (ITO)-free inverted bulk-heterojunction organic solar cells using capping layers , 2008 .

[58]  Paul Sullivan,et al.  Influence of molecular architecture and intermixing on the photovoltaic, morphological and spectroscopic properties of CuPc–C60 heterojunctions , 2004 .

[59]  T. Torres,et al.  Subphthalocyanines: singular nonplanar aromatic compounds-synthesis, reactivity, and physical properties. , 2002 .

[60]  Martin Pfeiffer,et al.  Efficient organic solar cells based on a double p-i-n architecture using doped wide-gap transport layers , 2005 .

[61]  S. Forrest,et al.  Efficient Solar Cells Using All‐Organic Nanocrystalline Networks , 2007 .

[62]  Richard H. Friend,et al.  Composites of Carbon Nanotubes and Conjugated Polymers for Photovoltaic Devices , 1999 .

[63]  T. Emrick,et al.  Polarization-driven stark shifts in quantum dot luminescence from single CdSe/oligo-PPV nanoparticles. , 2010, Nano letters.

[64]  Gang Li,et al.  Tuning acceptor energy level for efficient charge collection in copper-phthalocyanine-based organic solar cells , 2006 .

[65]  Stephen R. Forrest,et al.  Asymmetric tandem organic photovoltaic cells with hybrid planar-mixed molecular heterojunctions , 2004 .

[66]  James W. Arbogast,et al.  Electron transfer to triplet fullerene C60 , 1992 .

[67]  V. Mihailetchi,et al.  Cathode dependence of the open-circuit voltage of polymer:fullerene bulk heterojunction solar cells , 2003 .

[68]  A. Oliva,et al.  Surface and grain boundary contributions in the electrical resistivity of metallic nanofilms , 2006 .

[69]  Liangbing Hu,et al.  Organic solar cells with carbon nanotube network electrodes , 2006 .

[70]  Mats Andersson,et al.  Laminated fabrication of polymeric photovoltaic diodes , 1998, Nature.

[71]  Liping Ma,et al.  High-speed and high-current density C60 diodes , 2004 .

[72]  Robert P. H. Chang,et al.  p-Type semiconducting nickel oxide as an efficiency-enhancing anode interfacial layer in polymer bulk-heterojunction solar cells , 2008, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[73]  Stephen R. Forrest,et al.  Material transport regimes and mechanisms for growth of molecular organic thin films using low-pressure organic vapor phase deposition , 2001 .

[74]  D. Neher,et al.  Charge carrier generation and electron blocking at interlayers in polymer solar cells , 2007 .

[75]  L. S. Roman,et al.  Modeling photocurrent action spectra of photovoltaic devices based on organic thin films , 1999 .

[76]  Zhenan Bao,et al.  Organic solar cells with solution-processed graphene transparent electrodes , 2008 .

[77]  Valentin D. Mihailetchi,et al.  Device model for the operation of polymer/fullerene bulk heterojunction solar cells , 2005 .

[78]  J. Reynolds,et al.  Poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene) and Its Derivatives: Past, Present, and Future , 2000 .

[79]  Jiu-Haw Lee,et al.  Effects of cathode buffer layers on the efficiency of bulk-heterojunction solar cells , 2010 .

[80]  R. Friend,et al.  Built-in field electroabsorption spectroscopy of polymer light-emitting diodes incorporating a doped poly(3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene) hole injection layer , 1999 .

[81]  Shui-Tong Lee,et al.  Metal diffusion from electrodes in organic light-emitting diodes , 1999 .

[82]  Donghang Yan,et al.  Organic photovoltaic cells with near infrared absorption spectrum , 2007 .

[83]  Viktor Andersson,et al.  Folded reflective tandem polymer solar cell doubles efficiency , 2007 .

[84]  K. Leo,et al.  Improved efficiency of zinc phthalocyanine/C60 based photovoltaic cells via nanoscale interface modification , 2007 .

[85]  Jenny Nelson Organic photovoltaic films , 2002 .

[86]  Sei‐Yong Kim,et al.  Enhancement of the short circuit current in organic photovoltaic devices with microcavity structures , 2010 .

[87]  Michael Giersig,et al.  Plasmonics of thin film quasitriangular nanoparticles , 2010 .

[88]  Alex K.-Y. Jen,et al.  Metal grid/conducting polymer hybrid transparent electrode for inverted polymer solar cells , 2010 .

[89]  Karl Leo,et al.  Optimizing the morphology of metal multilayer films for indium tin oxide (ITO)-free inverted organic solar cells , 2009 .

[90]  Vishal Shrotriya,et al.  Transition metal oxides as the buffer layer for polymer photovoltaic cells , 2006 .

[91]  R. Service,et al.  Is It Time to Shoot for the Sun? , 2005, Science.

[92]  Frederik C. Krebs,et al.  Significant Improvement of Polymer Solar Cell Stability , 2005 .

[93]  Dieter Meissner,et al.  The effect of fullerene doping on photoelectric conversion using titanyl phthalocyanine and a perylene pigment , 2000 .

[94]  D. Carroll,et al.  Flame-made niobium doped zinc oxide nanoparticles in bulk heterojunction solar cells , 2010 .

[95]  Jiu-Haw Lee,et al.  4-Hydroxy-8-methyl-1,5-naphthyridine aluminium chelate: a morphologically stable and efficient exciton-blocking material for organic photovoltaics with prolonged lifetime , 2010 .

[96]  Qiaoqiang Gan,et al.  Broadband short-range surface plasmon structures for absorption enhancement in organic photovoltaics , 2010, 2010 IEEE Photinic Society's 23rd Annual Meeting.

[97]  Yang Yang,et al.  Polymer solar cells with enhanced open-circuit voltage and efficiency , 2009 .

[98]  Mats Andersson,et al.  High Quantum Efficiency Polythiophene , 1998 .

[99]  Yoon-Chae Nah,et al.  Plasmon enhanced performance of organic solar cells using electrodeposited Ag nanoparticles , 2008 .

[100]  C. M. Li,et al.  Role of buffer in organic solar cells using C60 as an acceptor , 2007 .

[101]  Thomas H. Reilly,et al.  Plasmon-enhanced solar energy conversion in organic bulk heterojunction photovoltaics , 2008 .

[102]  Xiao Wei Sun,et al.  An inverted organic solar cell with an ultrathin Ca electron-transporting layer and MoO3 hole-transporting layer , 2009 .

[103]  L. Jay Guo,et al.  Organic Solar Cells Using Nanoimprinted Transparent Metal Electrodes , 2008 .

[104]  Yongbing Long Effects of metal electrode reflection and layer thicknesses on the performance of inverted organic solar cells , 2010 .

[105]  J. Meiss,et al.  Selective absorption enhancement in organic solar cells using light incoupling layers , 2010 .

[106]  Tien-Lung Chiu,et al.  Optical and electrical characteristics of Ag-doped perylene diimide derivative , 2009 .

[107]  Peter Peumans,et al.  An effective light trapping configuration for thin-film solar cells , 2007 .

[108]  S. Maier Plasmonics: Fundamentals and Applications , 2007 .

[109]  Olle Inganäs,et al.  Trapping light with micro lenses in thin film organic photovoltaic cells. , 2008, Optics express.

[110]  E. Coronado,et al.  The Optical Properties of Metal Nanoparticles: The Influence of Size, Shape, and Dielectric Environment , 2003 .

[111]  Stephen R. Forrest,et al.  High photovoltage multiple-heterojunction organic solar cells incorporating interfacial metallic nanoclusters , 2002 .

[112]  Karl Leo,et al.  Light trapping in organic solar cells , 2008 .

[113]  Zhiqiang Gao,et al.  Blocking reactions between indium-tin oxide and poly (3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulphonate) with a self-assembly monolayer , 2002 .

[114]  Stephen R. Forrest,et al.  Organic small molecule solar cells with a homogeneously mixed copper phthalocyanine: C60 active layer , 2004 .

[115]  Chunhui Huang,et al.  Small-molecule organic solar cells with improved stability , 2005 .

[116]  Barry P Rand,et al.  4.2% efficient organic photovoltaic cells with low series resistances , 2004 .

[117]  C. Liang,et al.  Characterization of organic photovoltaic devices with indium-tin-oxide anode treated by plasma in various gases , 2006 .

[118]  Stephen R. Forrest,et al.  The path to ubiquitous and low-cost organic electronic appliances on plastic , 2004, Nature.

[119]  Rene Lopez,et al.  Absorption and quasiguided mode analysis of organic solar cells with photonic crystal photoactive layers. , 2009, Optics express.

[120]  Guo-Qiang Lo,et al.  Inverted tandem organic solar cells with a MoO3/Ag/Al/Ca intermediate layer , 2010 .

[121]  G. Mie Beiträge zur Optik trüber Medien, speziell kolloidaler Metallösungen , 1908 .

[122]  T. Marks,et al.  High-efficiency hole extraction/electron-blocking layer to replace poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) in bulk-heterojunction polymer solar cells , 2008 .

[123]  Thomas Kietzke,et al.  Recent Advances in Organic Solar Cells , 2007 .

[124]  Broad spectral sensitivity and improved efficiency in CuPc/Sub-Pc organic photovoltaic devices , 2009 .

[125]  K. R. Atkinson,et al.  Strong, Transparent, Multifunctional, Carbon Nanotube Sheets , 2005, Science.

[126]  Olle Inganäs,et al.  Fabrication of a light trapping system for organic solar cells , 2009 .

[127]  Stephen R. Forrest,et al.  Small molecular weight organic thin-film photodetectors and solar cells , 2003 .

[128]  C. C. Wu,et al.  Surface modification of indium tin oxide by plasma treatment: An effective method to improve the efficiency, brightness, and reliability of organic light emitting devices , 1997 .

[129]  Barry P Rand,et al.  Near-infrared sensitive small molecule organic photovoltaic cells based on chloroaluminum phthalocyanine , 2007 .

[130]  M.J.A. de Voigt,et al.  Stability of the interface between indium-tin-oxide and poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)/poly(styrenesulfonate) in polymer light-emitting diodes , 2000 .

[131]  Fan Yang,et al.  Photocurrent generation in nanostructured organic solar cells. , 2008, ACS nano.

[132]  H. Atwater,et al.  Plasmonics for improved photovoltaic devices. , 2010, Nature materials.

[133]  Effect of metal cathode reflectance on the exciton-dissociation efficiency in heterojunction organic solar cells , 2009 .

[134]  C. Brabec,et al.  Effect of LiF/metal electrodes on the performance of plastic solar cells , 2002 .

[135]  Arie Zaban,et al.  Optical waveguide enhanced photovoltaics. , 2008, Optics express.

[136]  Y. Rubin,et al.  Photophysical Properties of C60. , 1991 .

[137]  Yang Yang,et al.  Enhancement in open circuit voltage through a cascade-type energy band structure , 2007 .

[138]  S. Forrest,et al.  Simultaneous heterojunction organic solar cells with broad spectral sensitivity , 2008 .

[139]  S. Forrest,et al.  Organic solar cells with sensitivity extending into the near infrared , 2005 .

[140]  Edward H. Sargent,et al.  Aluminum doped zinc oxide for organic photovoltaics , 2009 .

[141]  F. Krebs,et al.  Stability/degradation of polymer solar cells , 2008 .

[142]  R. J. Shul,et al.  GAN : PROCESSING, DEFECTS, AND DEVICES , 1999 .

[143]  P. Yu,et al.  Embedded indium-tin-oxide nanoelectrodes for efficiency and lifetime enhancement of polymer-based solar cells , 2010 .

[144]  S. Forrest,et al.  Organic Double‐Heterostructure Photovoltaic Cells Employing Thick Tris(acetylacetonato)ruthenium(III) Exciton‐Blocking Layers , 2005 .

[145]  Stephen R. Forrest,et al.  Open circuit voltage enhancement due to reduced dark current in small molecule photovoltaic cells , 2009 .

[146]  S. Chua,et al.  A mechanical assessment of flexible optoelectronic devices , 2001 .

[147]  Carsten Rockstuhl,et al.  Metallic nanoparticles as intermediate reflectors in tandem solar cells , 2009 .

[148]  Christophe Py,et al.  Design of high-contrast OLEDs with microcavity effect. , 2008, Optics express.

[149]  W. Whang,et al.  Morphological control of CuPc and its application in organic solar cells , 2008, Nanotechnology.

[150]  W. Warta,et al.  Solar cell efficiency tables (version 35) , 2010 .

[151]  Michael Grätzel,et al.  Solar energy conversion by dye-sensitized photovoltaic cells. , 2005, Inorganic chemistry.

[152]  Weng Cho Chew,et al.  A comprehensive study for the plasmonic thin-film solar cell with periodic structure. , 2010, Optics express.

[153]  J. Gao,et al.  Thickness dependence of mobility in CuPc thin film on amorphous SiO2 substrate , 2007 .

[154]  C. Tang Two‐layer organic photovoltaic cell , 1986 .

[155]  M. Lux‐Steiner,et al.  On the function of a bathocuproine buffer layer in organic photovoltaic cells , 2006 .

[156]  C. Foote,et al.  Electron Transfer to Triplet C60 , 1992 .

[157]  H. Queisser,et al.  Detailed Balance Limit of Efficiency of p‐n Junction Solar Cells , 1961 .