• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
• /
• v.35 no.4
• /
• pp.366-371
• /
• 2022

Recently many efforts have been made to develop a novel class of non-fullerene electron acceptor materials for high-performance organic solar cells. In this work, anthraquinone derivatives, TMAQ and THAQ, were prepared and their availability as electron acceptor materials for organic solar cells were investigated in terms of optical, thermal, electrochemical properties, and solar cell devices. Compared to TMAQ, a significant bathochromic shift of absorption band was observed for THAQ owing to intramolecular hydrogen-bond-assisted CT interactions. Thanks to the fused aromatic ring structure and benzoquinone unit, both TMAQ and THAQ exhibited a high thermal stability and an efficient electron reduction process. In particular, the intramolecular O-H---O=C hydrogen bond of THAQ plays an important role in improving the thermal stability and electron reduction properties. In the P3HT:acceptor solar cell system, THAQ-based devices had more than ca. 6 times higher power conversion efficiency than TMAQ -based devices. These results serve as a guide for developing high-efficient anthraquinone-based electron acceptor materials.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
• /
• 2014.02a
• /
• pp.134.2-134.2
• /
• 2014

Photonic crystal solar cells have the potential for addressing the disparate length scales in polymer photovoltaic materials, thereby confronting the major challenge in solar cell technology: efficiency. One must achieve simultaneously an efficient absorption of photons with effective carrier extraction. Unfortunately the two processes have opposing requirements. Efficient absorption of light calls for thicker PV active layers whereas carrier transport always benefits from thinner ones, and this dichotomy is at the heart of an efficiency/cost conundrum that has kept solar energy expensive relative to fossil fuels. This dichotomy persists over the entire solar spectrum but increasingly so near a semiconductor's band edge where absorption is weak. We report a 2-D, photonic crystal morphology that enhances the efficiency of organic photovoltaic cells relative to conventional planar cells. The morphology is developed by patterning an organic photoactive bulk heterojunction blend of Poly(3-(2-methyl-2-hexylcarboxylate) thiophene-co-thiophene) and PCBM via PRINT, a nano-embossing method that lends itself to large area fabrication of nanostructures. The photonic crystal cell morphology increases photocurrents generally, and particularly through the excitation of resonant modes near the band edge of the organic PV material. The device performance of the photonic crystal cell showed a nearly doubled increase in efficiency relative to conventional planar cell designs. Photonic crystals can also enhance performance of other optoelectronic devices including organic laser.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
• /
• v.30 no.11
• /
• pp.699-704
• /
• 2017

The amount of electric power for photovoltaic power generation depends on the location of the power plant and the direction of solar cell. The solar cell controls the generation of solar power plants. Therefore, the structure of solar cell, manufacturing method, and optic technology were factors contributing to increased solar cell efficiency; however, the technical limit has been reached. Herein, we propose a new method to increase the solar cell efficiency using a wavelength conversion technology that converts ultraviolet and infrared rays, which are not effectively used in solar cells, into effective wavelength of solar cell. We used fluoride $Na(Ca)YF_4$ phosphor for wavelength conversion. Then, a wavelength-conversion fluorescent paste, prepared using an organic-silicon binder, was used to prepare a film that was applied to Si solar cells. It was confirmed that conversion efficiency improved by 5% or more.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
• /
• v.36 no.1
• /
• pp.36-41
• /
• 2023

We investigated the properties of vanadium oxide (VOx) buffer layers deposited by a dual RF magnetron sputtering method under various target powers for inverted organic solar cells (IOSCs). Sputter fabricatged VOx thin films exhibited higher crystallinity with the increase of target power, resulting in a uniform and large grain size. The electrical properties of VOx films are improved with the increase of target power because of the increase of V content. In the results, the performance of IOSCs critically depended on the target power during the film growth because the crystalllinity of the VOx film affects the carrier mobility of the VOx film.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
• /
• v.28 no.10
• /
• pp.648-651
• /
• 2015

The characterizations of zinc oxide (ZnO) buffer layers grown by unbalanced magnetron (UBM) sputtering under various substrate temperatures for inverted organic solar cells (IOSCs) were investigated. UBM sputter grown ZnO films exhibited higher crystallinity with increasing the substrate temperature, resulting in uniform and large grain size. Also, the electrical properties of ZnO films are improved with increasing substrate temperature. In the results, the performance of IOSCs critically depended on the substrate temperature during the film growth because the crystalllinity of the ZnO film affect the carrier mobility of the ZnO film.

• Ceramist
• /
• v.22 no.2
• /
• pp.146-169
• /
• 2019

To overcome the theoretical efficiency of single-junction solar cells (> 30 %), tandem solar cells (or multi-junction solar cells) is considered as a strong nominee because of their excellent light utilization. Organic-inorganic halide perovskite has been regarded as a promising candidate material for next-generation tandem solar cell due to not only their excellent optoelectronic properties but also their bandgap-tune-ability and low-temperature process-possibility. As a result, they have been adopted either as a wide-bandgap top cell combined with narrow-bandgap silicon or CuIn_xGa_(1-x)Se₂ bottom cells or for all-perovskite tandem solar cells using narrow- and wide-bandgap perovskites. To successfully transition perovskite materials from for single junction to tandem, substantial efforts need to focus on fabricating the high quality wide- and narrow-bandgap perovskite materials and semi-transparent electrode/recombination layer. In this paper, we present an overview of the current research and our outlook regarding perovskite-based tandem solar technology. Several key challenges discussed are: 1) a wide-bandgap perovskite for top-cell in multi-junction tandem solar cells; 2) a narrow-bandgap perovskite for bottom-cell in all-perovskite tandem solar cells, and 3) suitable semi-transparent conducting layer for efficient electrode or recombination layer in tandem solar cells.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
• /
• 2010.06a
• /
• pp.36-36
• /
• 2010

Currently, there are several newly developed energy resources for the future to replace petroleum resources such as hydrogen fuel cell, solar cell, wind power, and etc. Among them, solar cell has attracted a worldwide concern, because it has an enormous amount of resources. In general, a study of solar cells can be classified in to an area of bulk type and thin-film type. Inorganic solar cells based on silicon have been tremendously developed in technology and efficiency. However, since there are many lithographic steps, high processing temperature approximately $1000^{\circ}C$, and expensive raw materials, a manufacturing cost of device are nearly reaching a limit. Contrary to those disadvantages, organic solar cells can be manufactured at room temperature. Also, it has many advantages such as a low cost, easy fabrication of thin film, and possible manufacture to a large size. Because it can be made to be flexible, research and development on solar cells are actively in progress for the next generation. ever though an efficiency of the organic solar cell is low compared to that of inorganic one, a continuous study is needed. In this paper, we report optimal device structure obtained by a program simulation for design and development of highly efficient organic photovoltaic cells. we have also compared simulated results to experimental ones.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
• /
• v.29 no.9
• /
• pp.589-594
• /
• 2016

P3HT:PCBM bulk heterojunction solar cells added with ferroelectric polymer were fabricated and characterized. By incorporating P3HT:PCBM solar cell with P(VDF-TrFE) ferroelectric additive, the power conversion efficiency was increased up to nearly 50%. Photoacoustic analysis on this phenomena was carried out for the first time. Through this study, we find that the ferroelectricity of the polymer additive plays the key role in the enhancement of the power conversion efficiency of the organic solar cell by suppressing the non-radiative recombination of charge transfer exciton more effectively.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
• /
• v.27 no.2
• /
• pp.121-125
• /
• 2014

In this research, nanocomposite layers consisting of poly (3,4,-ethylene dioxythiophene):polystyrene sulfonic acid (PEDOT:PSS) and CuO nanoparticles were investigated as hole transport layers in organic solar cells based on poly (3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) as the electron donor and (6.6) phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) as the electron acceptor. The addition of CuO nanoparticles to PEDOT:PSS layer improved the solar cell performance with 0.5% CuO nanoparticle concentration. At optimized concentration, CuO mixed PEDOT:PSS films had good electrical ($4.131{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$) and optical (transmittance > 90%) properties for using hole transporting layer. We investigated that improved solar cell performance with CuO nanoparticles mixed PEDOT:PSS films.

• Current Applied Physics
• /
• v.18 no.12
• /
• pp.1592-1599
• /
• 2018

The present study deals with the effect of dual cathode buffer layer (CBL) on the performance of bilayer of 4,4'-cyclohexylidenebis[N,N-bis(4-methylphenyl)benzenamine] (TAPC) and fullerene (C70)-based organic solar cell (OSC) with low donor concentration. OSC devices with CBLs have been fabricated using thermal vapor deposition technique. We report the use of lithium fluoride (LiF) and molybdenum trioxide ($MoO_3$) as CBLs. The insertion of LiF between C70 and aluminium (Al) electrode enhances the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of device from 1.89% to 2.47% but quenching of photogenerated excitons is observed at interface of C70 and LiF layers. Incorporation of $MoO_3$ between LiF and Al electrode further enhances PCE of device to 3.51%. This has also improved the material quality and device properties, by preventing the formation of gap states and diminishing exciton quenching.