Improvement of organic solar cell performances using a zinc oxide anode coated by an ultrathin metallic layer

The authors have achieved an efficient organic solar cell based on copper phthalocyanine (CuPc) layer as donor and fullerene (C-60) as acceptor. The aluminum doped zinc oxide (ZnO:Al) instead of indium tin oxide (ITO) is used as the anode. An ultrathin gold film is introduced among ZnO:Al, transparent conductor oxide, and the CuPc donor layer. We show that the power conversion efficiency of this cell is enhanced by one order of magnitude compared to that achieved with a ZnO anode without ultrathin gold film. Therefore, the power conversion efficiency of this cell is comparable to that with an ITO anode. (c) 2008 American Institute of Physics.