Project R-5468

Low Temperature Synthesis of Hole Conducting Layers for Organic Photovoltaics (Research)

Organic solar cells already received widespread attention in the scientific community given their potential as flexible, printable, large scale energy source and their sustainable production. However, regarding efficiency, organic photovoltaics are still lagging behind compared to conventional silicon-based cells. Besides from addressing active layer development, optimizing the anode interface by inserting a hole conducting layer can remediate this situation. In this respect, MoO3, WO3 and V2O5 are promising candidates described in literature. However, the properties of these materials can be tuned further by introducing dopants. To this end solutionbased deposition is highly suitable: several metals can be introduced into the precursor solutions ascertaining the homogeneous distribution of the dopant. This project aims to study chemical solution deposition of doped oxides as hole conducting layers in OPV devices, hence progressing beyond the state of the art. Moreover, strong limitations are imposed to the temperature whereat this functional layer is deposited. Factors influencing the low temperature decomposition of the precursor and the device performance are identified by various specialized characterization techniques. In this way, the project realizes a deeper understanding concerning the fundamental thermodynamics and kinetics of the oxide formation and the optimal composition and structure of hole conducting interface layers.

01 October 2014 - 30 September 2017