• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.08a
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• pp.310.2-310.2
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• 2013

For enhancement of dye-sensitized solar cell performance, TiO2 blocking layer has been used to prevent recombination between electron and hole at the conducting oxide and electrolyte interface. In solid state dye-sensitized solar cells, it is necessary to fabricate pin-hole free TiO2 blocking layer. In this work, we deposited the TiO2 blocking layer on conducting oxide by atomic layer deposition and compared the efficiency. To compare the efficiency, we fabricate solid state dye-sensitized solar cell with using CuSCN as hole transport material. We see the efficiency improve with 40nm TiO2 blocking layer and the TiO2 blocking layer morphology was characterized by SEM. Also, we used this blocking layer in TiO2/Sb2S3/ CuSCN solar cell.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.32 no.10
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• pp.3629-3633
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• 2011

The effect of a dense $TiO_2$ blocking layer prepared using the sol-gel method on the performance of dye-sensitized solar cells was studied. The blocking layer formed directly on the working electrode, separated it from the electrolyte, and prevented the back transfer of electrons from the electrode to the electrolyte. The dyesensitized solar cells were prepared with a working electrode of fluorine-doped tin oxide glass coated with a blocking layer of dense $TiO_2$, a dye-attached mesoporous $TiO_2$ film, and a nano-gel electrolyte, and a counter electrode of Pt-deposited FTO glass. The gel processing conditions and heat treatment temperature for blocking layer formation affected the morphology and performance of the cells, and their optimal values were determined. The introduction of the blocking layer increased the conversion efficiency of the cell by 7.37% for the cell without a blocking layer to 8.55% for the cell with a dense $TiO_2$ blocking layer, under standard illumination conditions. The short-circuit current density ($J_{sc}$) and open-circuit voltage ($V_{oc}$) also were increased by the addition of a dense $TiO_2$ blocking layer.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2012.10a
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• pp.233-236
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• 2012

In this paper, the output characteristics of GaN-based LED considering blocking layer design variables are analyzed. The basic structure of the LED consists of active region of GaN barrier and InGaN quantum well between AlGaN EBL(Electron Blocking Layer) and AlGaN HBL(Hole Blocking Layer) on GaN buffer layer. The output power, internal quantum efficiency characteristics of LED active region considering Al mole fraction of EBL, thickness of EBL, Al mole fraction of HBL and doping concentration of HBL are analyzed using ISE-TCAD.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.18 no.12
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• pp.1148-1151
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• 2005

Photovoltaic effects in organic solar cell were studied in a cell configuration of ITO/PEDOT:PSS/CuPc(20 nm)/$C_{60}$(40 nm)/BCP/Al(150 nm) at room temperature. Here, the BCP layer works as an exciton blocking layer. The exciton blocking layer must transport electrons from the acceptor layer to the metal cathode with minimal increase in the total cell series resistance and should absorb damage during cathode deposition. Therefore, a proper thickness of the exciton blocking layer is required for an optimized photovoltaic cell. Several thicknesses of BCP were made between $C_{60}$ and Al. And we obtained characteristic parameters such as short-circuit current, open-circuit voltage, and power conversion efficiency of the device under the illumination of AM 1.5.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.273-274
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• 2005

Photovoltaic effects in organic solar cell were studied in a cell configuration of ITO/PEDOT:PSS/CuPc(20nm)/$C_{60}$(40nm)/BCP/Al(150nm) at room temperature. Here, the BCP layer works as an exciton blocking layer. The exciton blocking layer must transport electrons from the acceptor layer to the metal cathode with minimal increase in the total cell series resistance and should absorb damage during cathode deposition. Therefore, a proper thickness of the exciton blocking layer is required for an optimized photovoltaic cell. Several thicknesses of BCP were made between $C_{60}$ and Al. And we obtained characteristic parameters such as short-circuit current, open-circuit voltage, and power conversion efficiency of the device under the illumination of AM 1.5.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.52 no.4
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• pp.294-298
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• 2015

Blocking layers with nano carbon blacks (NCBs) were prepared by adding 0.0 ~ 0.5 wt% NCBs to the $TiO_2$ blocking layer. Then, dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) were fabricated with a $0.45cm^2$ active area. TEM and micro-Raman spectroscopy were used to characterize the microstructure and phases of the NCBs, respectively. Optical microscopy and AFM were used to analyze the microstructure of the $TiO_2$ blocking layer with NCBs. UV-VIS-NIS spectroscopy was used to determine the band gap of the $TiO_2$ blocking layer with NCBs. A solar simulator and potentiostat were used to determine the photovoltaic properties and impedance of DSSCs with NCBs. The energy conversion efficiency (ECE) increased from 3.53 to 6.20 % when the NCB content increased from 0.0 to 0.3 wt%. This indicates that the effective surface area and electron mobility increased in the $TiO_2$ blocking layer with NCBs. However, the ECE decreased when the NCB content was increased to over 0.4 wt%. This change occurred because the effective electron transport area decreased with the addition of excessive NCBs to the $TiO_2$ blocking layer. The results of this study suggest that the ECE of DSSCs can be enhanced by adding the appropriate amount of NCBs to the $TiO_2$ blocking layer.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.312-316
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• 2013

In this study, short-circuit preventive layer (blocking layer) was deposited between conductive transparent electrode and porous $TiO_2$ film in the DSSCs. As blocking layer, we selected the metal-oxide such as $TiO_2$, $Nb_2O_5$ and ZnO. The sheet resistance with each different blocking layers were 18 ${\Omega}/sq.$ for the $TiO_2$, 10 ${\Omega}/sq.$ for the $Nb_2O_5$ and 8 ${\Omega}/sq.$ for the ZnO, while the RMS (Root Mean Square) roughness value of DSSCs were 39.61 nm for the $TiO_2$, 41.84 nm for the $Nb_2O_5$ and 36.14 nm for the ZnO respectively. From the results of photocurrent-voltage curves, a sputtered $Nb_2O_5$ blocking layer showed higher performance on 2.64% of photo-electrochemical properties. The maximum of conversion efficiency which was achieved under 1 sun irradiation by depositing the blocking layer increased up to 0.56%.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.120-125
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• 2000

The tfTZ(4,4',4''-trifluoro-triazine) was used as a hole blocking material for the electroluminescent devices(ELDs) in this study. In general, the holes are outnumbered the electrons in hole transport and emitting layers because the hole transport is more efficient in most organic ELDs. The hole blocking layer are expected to control the excess holes to increase the recombination of holes and electrons and to decrease current density. The former study using the 2,4,6-triphenyl-1,3,5-triazine(TTA) as hole blocking layer showed that the TTA did not form stable films with vapor deposition technique. The tfTZ can generate stable evaporated films, moreover the fluorine group can lower the highest occupied molecular orbital(HOMO) level, which produces the energy barrier for the holes. The tfTZ has high electron affinities according to the data by the Cyclic-Voltammety(CV) method, which is developed for the measurement of HOMO and lowest occupied molecular orbital(LUMO) level of organic thin films. The lowered HOMO level is made the tfTZ to be applied for a hole blocking layer in ELDs. We fabricated multilayer ELDs with a structure of ITO/hole blocking layer(HBL)/hole transporting layer(HTL)/emitting layer/electrode. The hole blocking properties of this devices is confirmed from the lowered current density values compared with that without hole blocking layer.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2002.11a
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• pp.499-501
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• 2002

본 연구에서는 ETL층으로 널리 알려져 있는 PBD(2-(4-biphenyl)-5-(4-tert-butylphenyl) -1.3,4oxadiazole)를 HBL(Hole-blocking layer) 물질로 이용 하고 Nile red를 사용하여 적색 발광의 EL(electroluminescence) 소자를 제작 평가하였다. 일반적인 유기 EL 소자의 구조인 Anode/HTL(Hole Transport Layer)/ETL(Electron Transport Layer)/Cathode로 이루어져 있다. 여기에 HTL과 ETL사이에 HBL를 추가하여 EL 소자의 성능을 향상 시킬 수 있으면, 이러한 구조의 최종 소자를 제작 EML(emitting layer; Nile red)의 두께 및 임계전압을 달리 하여 소자 의 특성을 평가 연구 하였다.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2011.11a
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• pp.53.2-53.2
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• 2011

Dye-sensitized solar cells(DSSCs) have been recognized as an alternative to the conventional p-n junction solar cells because of their simple fabrication process, low production cost, and transparency. A typical DSSC consists of a transparent conductive oxide (TCO) electrode, a dye-sensitized oxide semiconductor nanoparticle layer, liquid redox electrolyte, and a Pt-counter electrode. In dye-sensitized solar cells, charge recombination processes at interfaces between coducting glass, $TiO_2$, dye, and electrolyte play an important role in limiting the photon-to-electron conversion efficiency. A layer of ZTO thin film less than ~200nm in thickness, as a blocking layer, was deposited by DC magnetron sputtering method directly onto the anode electrode to be isolated from the electrolyte in dye-sensitized solar cells(DSCs). This is to prevent the electrons from back-transferring from the electrode to the electrolyte ($I^-/I_3^-$). The presented DSCs were fabricated with working electrode of Ga-doped ZnO glass coated with blocking ZTO layer, dye-attached nanoporous $TiO_2$ layer, gel electrolyte and counter electrode of Pt-deposited GZO glass. The effects of blocking layer were studied with respect to impedance and conversion efficiency of the cells.