Design and fabrication of a semi-transparent solar cell considering the effect of the layer thickness of MoO3/Ag/MoO3 transparent top contact on optical and electrical properties

We conducted the present study to design and manufacture a semi-transparent organic solar cell (ST-OSC). First, we formed a transparent top contact as MoO3/Ag/MoO3 in a dielectric/metal/dielectric (DMD) structure. We performed the production of an FTO/ZnO/P3HT:PCBM/MoO3/Ag/MoO3 ST-OSC by integrating MoO3/Ag/MoO3 (10/dm/dod nm) instead of an Ag electrode in an opaque FTO/ZnO/P3HT:PCBM/MoO3/Ag (-/40/130/10/100 nm) OSC, after theoretically achieving optimal values of optical and electrical parameters depending on Ag layer thickness. The transparency decreased with the increase of dm values for current DMD. Meanwhile, maximum transmittance and average visible transmittance (AVT) indicated the maximum values of over 92% for dm=4 and 8 nm, respectively. For ST-OSCs, the absorption and reflectance increased in the visible region by a wavelength of longer than 560 nm and in the whole near-infrared region by increasing dm up to 16 nm. Moreover, in the CIE chromaticity diagram, we reported a shift towards the D65 Planckian locus for colour coordinates of current ST-OSCs. Electrical analysis indicated the photogenerated current density and AVT values for dm=6 nm as 63.30 mA/cm(2) and 38.52%, respectively. Thus, the theoretical and experimental comparison of optical and electrical characteristics confirmed that the manufactured structure is potentially conducive for a high-performance ST-OSC.

Automated summary

The study designed and manufactured a semi-transparent organic solar cell, confirming the potential for high performance through optimization of optical and electrical parameters.