Au-doped single layer graphene nanoribbons for a record-high efficiency ITO-free tandem polymer solar cell

Polymer solar cells (PSCs) are apparently becoming one of the leading technologies to reduce our dependency on traditional power sources. However, the frequent use of a transparent conductive electrode, indium-tin-oxide (ITO), in the present PSC technologies has increased the overall expenses. In ad...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Energy & environmental science 2015-01, Vol.8 (5), p.1523-1537
Main Authors: Mohd Yusoff, Abd. Rashid bin, Kim, Dongcheon, Schneider, Fabio Kurt, da Silva, Wilson Jose, Jang, Jin
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:Polymer solar cells (PSCs) are apparently becoming one of the leading technologies to reduce our dependency on traditional power sources. However, the frequent use of a transparent conductive electrode, indium-tin-oxide (ITO), in the present PSC technologies has increased the overall expenses. In addition, its brittleness in nature could limit the future development of PSCs, particularly in a flexible format. Here, we report on the development of Au-doped single layer graphene nanoribbons (Au-doped SLGNRs) as an option to the transparent conducting electrode (indium tin oxide, ITO) that could yield a single-layer PSC with power conversion and external quantum efficiencies comparable to commonly used transparent electrodes. When the Au-doped SLGNRs are implemented in tandem architecture, a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 8.48% is achieved. This is the highest efficiency for ITO-free tandem PSCs to date. The improved performance of the Au-doped SLGNR anode is characterized to the structure of the device that enables a hole transport from the active layer into the Au-doped SLGNR anode.
ISSN:1754-5692
1754-5706
DOI:10.1039/C5EE00749F