Control of light absorption in organic solar cells using semi-transparent metal electrodes

Stefanie Neutzner; Jorik van de Groep; Artem A. Bakulin; Huib J. Bakker

doi:10.1117/12.2023650

11 September 2013 Control of light absorption in organic solar cells using semi-transparent metal electrodes

Stefanie Neutzner, Jorik van de Groep, Artem A. Bakulin, Huib J. Bakker

Proceedings Volume 8811, Physical Chemistry of Interfaces and Nanomaterials XII; 881119 (2013) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2023650
Event: SPIE NanoScience + Engineering, 2013, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

In this contribution we combine optical modeling and device fabrication/characterization techniques to demonstrate that semitransparent metal electrodes can improve light harvesting in organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices. We show that inverted P3HT:PCBM solar cells using a thin ~8 nm silver film as a front electrode outperform the ITO-based devices, despite the lower transmittance of silver films in comparison to ITO. The variation of silver thickness allows tailoring the field distribution inside the cell, which leads to a broad resonance window where the absorption is enhanced. Thereby the short-circuit current was increased by 84% and the solar-cell efficiency was doubled. These results show that semitransparent metal electrodes can be efficiently used for light trapping and also form a very promising alternative to ITO in OPV devices. The stacked silver electrodes used in this work are flexible and can be easily produced on a large scale, including printing techniques.

Citation Download Citation

Stefanie Neutzner, Jorik van de Groep, Artem A. Bakulin, and Huib J. Bakker "Control of light absorption in organic solar cells using semi-transparent metal electrodes", Proc. SPIE 8811, Physical Chemistry of Interfaces and Nanomaterials XII, 881119 (11 September 2013); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2023650

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