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Novel hybrid solar cells based on α-copper phthalocyanine–cadmium sulfide planar heterojunction

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Abstract

Cadmium sulfide (CdS) has been employed as an alternative acceptor for planar heterojunction solar cell based on copper phthalocyanine (CuPc). Spin-coated poly-3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene:polystyrenesulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) on indium tin oxide (ITO)-coated glass substrates was used for the vacuum deposition of CuPc and CdS planar heterojunction. In the present study, we have fabricated two different architectures of CuPc/CdS devices: (1) ITO/PEDOT:PSS/CuPc/CdS/Al and (2) ITO/PEDOT:PSS/CuPc/CdS/LiF/Al. Our results indicate that the CdS could effectively facilitate charge transport in the nanostructured network, and be a good acceptor. The fabricated bare CuPc/CdS device shows 0.13 % conversion efficiency while incorporation of LiF layer between CuPc/CdS and Al contact facilitates low-recombination rate results ~43 % enhancement in efficiency. The ITO/PEDOT:PSS/CuPc/CdS/LiF/Al device shows 0.30 % power conversion efficiency.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (NRF-2009-0094055).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Applied Chemical Engineering, Chonnam National University, Gwangju, 500-757, South Korea

    Sawanta S. Mali & Chang Kook Hong

  2. Thin Film Materials Laboratory, Department of Physics, Shivaji University, Kolhapur, 416004, India

    Sawanta S. Mali & Promod S. Patil

  3. Materials Research Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, Shivaji University, Kolhapur, 416004, India

    Popatrao N. Bhosale

Authors
  1. Sawanta S. Mali
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  2. Promod S. Patil
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  3. Popatrao N. Bhosale
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  4. Chang Kook Hong
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Correspondence to Sawanta S. Mali or Chang Kook Hong.

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Mali, S.S., Patil, P.S., Bhosale, P.N. et al. Novel hybrid solar cells based on α-copper phthalocyanine–cadmium sulfide planar heterojunction. J Mater Sci 49, 5100–5111 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-014-8218-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-014-8218-z

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