Recent development of the inverted configuration organic solar cells

Recent years, the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of normal configuration organic solar cells (OSCs) has obtained rapid progress to reach more than 6% under standard illumination, which is reasonable value for the commercial criterion. More and more research attention has been paid on the stability and lifetime of OSCs. A novel structural OSCs with high work function metal or metal oxide as the top electrode and low work function metal as the bottom anode is proposed and named as inverted configuration OSCs. The inverted configuration OSCs with high work function metal as top cathode could improve OSCs's lifetime, i.e., protecting cells from the damage by oxygen and moisture in air. Furthermore, the inverted configuration OSCs is the appealing alternative to the conventional regular structure due to the inherent vertical phase separation in the polymer active layers and high stability or long device lifetime. The inverted configuration OSCs have not only achieved an impressive PCE of 4.4%, but also exhibited an exceptional device lifetime without encapsulation. In this review article, the recent developments and vital researches on the inverted configuration OSCs are summarized. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.