NANO-TEXTURED MULTI JUNCTION SOLAR CELLS Erin Ratcliff, Clayton Shallcross, Judy Jenkins, Kim Noble, Sam Graham,

Jayan Thomas, Palash

1 1 1 1 2 3 3 Gangopadhyay, Bob 3 Norwood,

Nasser

3 Peyghambarian,

Neal

1 Armstrong

Thrust 2: Light Sources and Organic Electronics, STA 4: Organic electronics and energy harvesting devices, Project 4.2: Organics for portable power generation

INTRODUCTION : Organic solar cells, or solar cells based on organic/inorganic nanoparticle (NP) hybrids, require significant intermixing of donor/acceptor layers to maximize exciton dissociation/charge creation. The inclusion of NP in a multi heterojunction configuration promotes the formation of vectoral electron and hole transport pathways, minimizing recombination and charge trapping. We are developing new routes to nano-textured organic and organic/NP films using electrodeposition or spin casting of semiconducting polymers combined with nanoembossing and/or micro contact printing of these polymers. The overarching goal is to produce controllable architectures of interpenetrating networks of electron donor and acceptor species -- in some cases the donor/acceptor interface will be electrochemically decorated with strong light absorbers (e.g. CdSe nanoparticles).

Al ~ 100 nm BCP ~ 5 nm C60 ~ 40 nm CdSe NP ~ 5 nm P3HT ~20-40 nm Poly (3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT)

S S S S S

ITO on glass ~100 nm

Interpenetrating Columnar Networks for Blended Heterojuction Solar Cells

Al acceptor Blended heterojunctions provide increased surface area and, if properly organized, can provide vectoral charge transport

Techniques for Integrated Column Fabrication

Pulsed Potential Electrodeposition Protocols for Nano-Texturing
10 8
-2

Organic Solar Cells Created From Electrochemically Deposited P3HT Layers

10
-2
2

6 4 2 0 -2 -4
dark 100 mW

Jph / mA cm

Jph / mA cm

10 10 10 10

donor ITO

-2

-4

Nanoparticle decorated columns

top electrode
N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N

dark 100 mW

-6

-1.0 -0.5

EQE%

S S S O O O O
O O O O

O
O

Nano-Embossing of Micro and Nano Structured Features

electron acceptor layer
OH

N N N N N

N N N N N N

1. Prepare Polymer and Mold Silicon Master

2. Apply Heat and Force

3. Separate and release

Micro-Contact Printing to Electrochemically Pattern Polymers

0.0 0.5 Bias / V

1.0

1.5

-1.0 -0.5

0.0 0.5 Bias / V

1.0

1.5

12 8 4 0 30

O OH
N N N N N N N

O O
HS HS
N

OH
HS HS

HS

HS

IQE%

HS

HS HS HS
HS

20 10 0

HS HS HS

HS HS

HS
SH SH

SH SH SH SH SH SH SH SH SH
SH SH

SH SH

SH SH

Substrate

Monolayer-tethered semiconductor nanoparticles

Master Replicate Master
20 m 20 m

Replicate

Micro contact printing of C18PO3H2 onto ITO followed by electrodeposition of PEDOT.

0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 400 500 600 700 Wavelength / nm 800

Electrodeposited P3HT films form the donor layer in ITO/P3HT/C60/BCP/Al solar cells, with pulsed-potential deposition providing texturization of the P3HT/C60 interface. The resultant cells have high IQEs, JSC = 3 mA/cm2; VOC = 0.5 volts, FF = 0.65. Electrochemical doping of the P3HT layers is critical in achieving these high fill-factors and IQEs.

Si masters and hot embossed poly(3-alkylthiophene) polymers

Abs / a.u.

250 nm

250 nm

Energy levels in SC-NPs are tunable by variation in NP diameter, composition and the type of capping ligand ongoing UPS and electrochemical studies provide estimates of EVB and ECB.

Nano-patterned poly(3-dodecylthiophene)

ZnO nanowires grown on Si (dia~100 nm) to hot nanoemboss polymers.

20 mm PEDOT column

SEM (45 tilt) of carpet and pulsed potential step electrodeposited P3HT films. Pulsing texturizes the P3HT layer and P3HT/C60 interface for improved device performance.

1 = Department of Chemistry, University of Arizona 3 = College of Optical Sciences, University of Arizona

2 = Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology

This work was funded by NSF sponsored Science and Technology Center on Materials and Devices for Information Technology Research, DMR-0120967.