Solution-Derived NiO Hole Transport Layers on the PTB7:PC₇₁BM Organic Solar Cells

Abstract

Nickel oxide (NiO) has become attractive as a poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT :PSS) substitute in solar cells’ hole transport layers (HTLs). However, solar cells with NiO HTLs based on poly[[4,8-bis[(2-ethylhexyl)oxy]benzo [1,2-b:4,5-b']dithiophene-2,6-diyl] [3-fluoro-2-[(2-ethylhexyl)carbonyl]thieno[3,4-b]-thiophenediyl] (PTB7) and [6,6]-phenyl C71 butyric acid methyl ester (PC71BM) remain poorly characterized. We report the effects of NiO-layer thickness on the performance of glass/ITO/NiO/PTB7:PC71BM/LiF/Al-structured solar cells. Thickness was optimized by changing nickel acetate tetrahydrate concentration in 2-methoxyethanol solution used for spin-coating deposition. We achieved a power conversion efficiency of 3.78% at 0.2 M of nickel acetate tetrahydrate.

Inverted Polymer Solar Cells Using Inkjet Printed ZnO as Electron Transport Layer: Characterization and Degradation Study

“…The inverted solar cells improve significantly this situation, although the selection of more efficient electron and hole transport layers is still a very important issue. Materials such as Titanium oxide (TiO x ) [5], poly [9,9-bis (3-(N,N-dimethylamino) propyl)-2,7-fluorene)-alt-2,7-(9,9-dioctylfluorene)] (PFN) [6] and Zinc oxide (ZnO) [7] have been used as ETL, while vanadium oxide (V 2 O 5 ) [8], nickel oxide (NiO) [9] and molybdenum oxide (MoO 3 ) [10] have been used as HTL.…”