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To minimize interfacial power losses, thin (5–80 nm) layers of NiO, a p -type oxide semiconductor, are inserted between the active organic layer, poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) + 6,6-phenyl-C 61 butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM), and the ITO (tin-doped indium oxide) anode of bulk-heterojunction ITO/P3HT:PCBM/LiF/Al solar cells. The interfacial NiO layer is deposited by pulsed laser deposition directly onto cleaned ITO, and the active layer is subsequently deposited by spin-coating. Insertion of the NiO layer affords cell power conversion efficiencies as high as 5.2% and enhances the fill factor to 69% and the open-circuit voltage ( V oc ) to 638 mV versus an ITO/P3HT:PCBM/LiF/Al control device. The value of such hole-transporting/electron-blocking interfacial layers is clearly demonstrated and should be applicable to other organic photovoltaics.
Irwin et al. (Tue,) studied this question.