Preprint / Version 2

ITO-Free Flexible Indoor Organic Solar Cells using PEDOT: PSS Conductive Electrode Demonstrating PCE over 10% On a Polyethylene Naphthalate (PEN) Substrate

##article.authors##

  • Ali Raza Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), Lahore
  • Jeong hoon School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Yonsei University, Seoul 120-749, Republic of Korea.
  • Sung ho School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Yonsei University, Seoul 120-749, Republic of Korea.
  • Abdul-aziz Alsalman Department of Chemistry Faculty of Science, King Abdul-Aziz University, Saudi Arabia.
  • Hee-Jin Jinho School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Yonsei University, Seoul 120-749, Republic of Korea.
  • Salman Akram Department of Physics, Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), Lahore, Pakistan

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31224/2575

Keywords:

organic photovoltaics, ITO-free, solution-processed, flexibility, dim lighting conditions

Abstract

Solution-processed flexible organic photovoltaics (OPVs) have gained tremendous popularity worldwide during the last two decades. Indium tin oxide (ITO) is commonly used as a transparent conductive electrode in OPVs due to its large conductivity and good transmittance but it is fragile, rigid, and quite expensive. In this paper, flexible solar cells, with Poly (3, 4-ethylenedioxythiophene): poly(styrene-sulfonic acid) (PEDOT: PSS) transparent conductive electrodes are successfully demonstrated on a Polyethylene Naphthalate (PEN) substrate. Prior to PEDOT: PSS electrode, a buffer layer of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) is added to PEN substrate. The OPV with PEDOT:PSS anode produced power conversion efficiency (PCE) average values of (12.0 % ± 0.1%) while the reference device with ITO exhibited PCE values of (8.0 % ± 0.0%) under a 500-lux-light emitting diode (LED) lamp. Besides PCE improvement, a flexible OPV device also exhibits superior flexibility over ITO as it can retain its PCE up to 85% even after 500 bending cycles in air while the PCE of ITO-based device declined to 15 % of its original value during a similar bending condition. To our knowledge, this excellent bending flexibility and PCE value are the highest recorded, under a 500-lux LED lamp on a PEN substrate.

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Posted

2022-09-26 — Updated on 2023-02-27

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