Improved light harvesting in tin-doped indum oxide, (ITO)-free inverted bulk-heterojunction organic solar cells using capping layers

We show that ultrathin metal layers (Ag or Al/Ag) are feasible as transparent top contacts for zinc phthalocyanine: C(60) bulk-heterojunction inverted organic solar cells thermally evaporated on glass substrates. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that the introduction of an organic capping layer drastically increases light incoupling and photon harvesting, in accordance with optical simulations. Proof of principle tin-doped indium oxide (ITO)-free solar cells employing a transparent metal contact and a capping layer reach efficiencies of 1.06%, compared to 0.69% without addition of the capping layer. (c) 2008 American Institute of Physics.