• Polymer Science and Technology
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.386-395
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• 2012

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Illuminating and Electrical Installation Engineers
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• v.26 no.11
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• pp.104-108
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• 2012

Flexible organic thin film solar cell device with Bulk Hetero-Junction (BHJ) structure was fabricated with blended conjugated polymer of PCDTBT : $PC_{71}BM$ as active layer. Surface of ITO anode for the organic solar cell device was treated with ozone. The organic solar cell device with bare ITO showed short circuit current density ($J_{sc}$) of $8.2mA/cm^2$, open-circuit voltage ($V_{oc}$) of 0.73V, fill factor (FF) of 0.36, and power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 2.16%, respectively. The organic solar cell device with ozone treated ITO anode revealed distinctively improved performance parameters:$J_{sc}$ of $9.8mA/cm^2$, $V_{oc}$ of 0.82V, FF of 0.43, PCE(${\eta}$) of 3.42%.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.02a
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• pp.277-277
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• 2012

PCDTBT (Poly[N-9''-hepta-decanyl-2,7-carbazole-alt-5,5-(4',7'-di-2-thienyl-2',1',3'-benzothiadiazole)]) is an attractive material as a semiconducting polymer for organic thin film transistor (OTFT) and organic solar cell (OSC). High power conversion efficiency (~6%) under simulated AM 1.5G solar illumination of bulk-heterojunction solar cell with PCDTBT and [6,6]-phenyl C60 butyric acid methyl ester (PC61BM) blend was reported. In OSC, it is known that the band alignment at the interface between donor and acceptor is critical. Therefore, we studied the interfacial electronic structures of PCDTBT and PC61BM. The polymers are deposited by electro-spray on gold and In-situ x-ray and ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy measurements revealed the interfacial electronic structures. We obtained the energy level alignment between two materials and the different interface formation was observed with different deposition order.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.211-217
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• 2013

Two types of organic thin film solar cell devices with bulk hetero-junction (BHJ) structure were fabricated on plastic substrates using conjugated polymers of $PCDTBT:PC_{71}BM$ and $PTB7:PC_{71}BM$ blended as active channel layer. Time-variant characteristics of the organic thin film solar cell devices were investigated: short circuit current density ($J_{SC}$); open circuit voltage ($V_{OC}$); ; fill factor (FF); power conversion efficiency (PCE, ŋ). All the performance parameters were degraded by progress of the measurement time, while $V_{OC}$ showed the most drastic decrease with time. Possible factors to cause the time-variant alteration of performance parameters were discussed to be clarified.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.43-46
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• 2012

Organic solar cell devices were fabricated using poly[9-(1-octylnonyl)-9H-carbazole-2.7-diyl]-2.5-thiophenediyl-2.1.3-benzothiadiazole-4.7-diyl-2.5-thiophenediyl] PCDTBT/ [6,6]-phenyl $C_{71}$ butyric acid methyl ester (PC71BM) active layer deposited by spin coating. Moreover, the relationship between solar cell performance and buffer layer thickness was investigated by spin coating speed and AFM imaging of the buffer layer surface. The performance of the organic solar cell with spin-coated active layer was then evaluated, and the power conversion efficiency of the solar cell was determined to be > 5%.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.08a
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• pp.377-377
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• 2011

Organic solar cells (OSCs) with low cost have been studied to apply on flexible substrate by solution process in low temperature [1]. In previous researches, conventional organic solar cell was composed of metal oxide anode, buffer layer such as PEDOT:PSS, photoactive layer, and metal cathode with low work function. In this structure, indium tin oxide (ITO) and Al was generally used as metal oxide anode and metal cathode, respectively. However, they showed poor reliability, because PEDOT:PSS was sensitive to moisture and air, and the low work function metal cathode was easily oxidized to air, resulting in decreased efficiency in half per day [2]. Inverted organic solar cells (IOSCs) using high work function metal and buffer layer replacing the PEDOT:PSS have focused as a solution in conventional organic solar cell. On the contrary to conventional OSCs, ZnO and TiO2 are required to be used as a buffer layer, since the ITO in IOSC is used as cathode to collect electrons and block holes. The ZnO is expected to be excellent electron transport layer (ETL), because the ZnO has the advantages of high electron mobility, stability in air, easy fabrication at room temperature, and UV absorption. In this study, the IOSCs based on poly [N-900-hepta-decanyl-2,7-carbazole-alt-5,5-(40,70-di-2-thienyl-20,10,30-benzothiadiazole)] (PCDTBT) : [6,6]-phenyl C71 butyric acid methyl ester (PC70BM) were fabricated with the ZnO electron-transport layer and MoO3 hole-transport layer. Thickness of the ZnO for electron-transport layer was controlled by rotation speed in spin-coating. The PCDTBT and PC70BM were mixed with a ratio of 1:2 as an active layer. As a result, the highest efficiency of 2.53% was achieved.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2014.02a
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• pp.484.1-484.1
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• 2014

Bulk hetero junction (BHJ) polymer solar cells (PSCs) are one of the most promising fields as alternative energy source. Especially, the development of new p-type conjugated polymer is one of the main issues to get core technology. In this study, a series of varied ratio of 3,6-carbazole in poly[9-(heptadecan-9-yl)-9H-carbazole-2,7-diyl-alt-(5,6-bis-(octyloxy)-4,7-di(thiophen-2-yl)benzo-[1,2,5]-thia-diazole)-5,5-diyl] were designed and synthesized. These polymers have good solubility and film formability than PCDTBT which is well known promising material. Investigation of the photovoltaic properties of these new polymers indicated that polymer with 2% of 3,6-carbazole provided higher PCE (3.8% to 4.9%) with enhanced JSC, FF, VOC. We found origin of this improvement using several methods, one of which is reduced bimolecular recombination in polymer.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.629-635
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• 2012

Two novel conjugated copolymers utilizing 4,7-dithien-2-yl-2,1,3-benzothiadiazole (DTBT) coupled with cyano (-CN) substituted vinylene, as the electron deficient moeity, have been synthesized and evaluated in bulk heterojunction solar cell. The electron deficient moeity was coupled with carbazole and fluorene unit by Knoevenagel condition to provide poly(bis-2,7-((Z)-1-cyano-2-(5-(7-(2-thienyl)-2,1,3-benzothiadiazol-4-yl)-2-thienyl)ethenyl)-alt-9-(1-octylnonyl)-9H-carbazol-2-yl-2-butenenitrile) (PCVCNDTBT) and poly(bis-2,7-((Z)-1-cyano-2-(5-(7-(2-thienyl)-2,1,3-benzothiadiazol-4-yl)-2-thienyl)ethenyl)-alt-9,9-dihexyl-9H-fluoren-2-yl) (PFVCNDTBT). The optical band gaps of PCVCNDTBT (1.74 eV) and PFVCNDTBT (1.80 eV) are lower than those of PCDTBT (1.88 eV) and PFVDTBT (2.13 eV), which is advantageous to provide better coverage of the solar spectrum in the longer wavelength region. The high $V_{oc}$ value of the PSC of PCVCNDTBT (~0.91 V) is attributed to its lower HOMO energy level ( 5.6 eV) as compared to PCDTBT ( 5.5 eV). Bulk heterojunction solar cells based on the blends of the polymers with [6,6]phenyl-$C_{61}$-butyric acid methyl ester ($PC_{61}BM$) gave power conversion efficiencies of 0.76% for PCVCNDTBT under AM 1.5, 100 mW/$cm^2$.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.73.2-73.2
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• 2010

Polymer solar cells (PSCs) have attracted considerable academic and commercial interest because of their unique advantages, such as the facile manufacture of low cost, flexibility, lightweight, and solution processibility. Recently, high-performance polymer solar cells made from a mixture of poly(2,7-carbazole) derivatives, PCDTBT, and [6,6]-phenyl C71 butyric acid methyl ester (PC70BM) have been reported, with maximum power conversion efficiency of 6.1%. In this work, we report new novel copolymers based on poly(2,7-carbazole) derivatives with a suite of electron-deficient moieties or electron-rich units. We systematically investigated the synthesis, thermal stability, as well as the optical and electrochemical properties of these polymers. Detailed synthetic scheme, optical, electrochemical, and photovoltaic properties of the copolymers will be presented.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2011.08a
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• pp.76-76
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• 2011

Polymer-fullerene based bulk heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells can be fabricated in large area using low-cost roll-to-roll manufacturing methods. However, because of the low mobility of the BHJ materials, there is competition between the sweep-out of the photogenerated carriers by the built-in potential and recombination within the thin BHJ film [12-15]. Useful film thicknesses are limited by recombination. Thus, there is a need to increase the absorption by the BHJ film without increasing film thickness. Metal nanoparticles exhibit localized surface plasmon resonances (LSPR) which couple strongly to the incident light. In addition, relatively large metallic nanoparticles can reflect and scatter the light and thereby increase the optical path length within the BHJ film. Thus, the addition of metal nanoparticles into BHJ films offers the possibility of enhanced absorption and correspondingly enhanced photo-generation of mobile carriers. In this work, we have demonstrated several positive effects of shape controlled Au and Ag nanoparticles in organic P3HT/PC70BM, PCDTBT/PC70BM, Si-PCPDTBT/PC70BM BHJ-based PV devices. The use of an optimized concentration of Au and Ag nanomaterials in the BHJ film increases Jsc, FF, and the IPCE. These improvements result from a combination of enhanced light absorption caused by the light scattering of the nanomaterials in an active layer. Some of the metals induce the plasmon light concentration at specific wavelength. Moreover, improved charge transport results in low series resistance.