The impact of a ZnO space layer on enhancing the efficiency of P3HT: PCBM blend-based organic solar cells

• Published in: Physica scripta 2024-08, Vol.99 (8), p.85951
• Main Authors: Brioua, Fathi, Daoudi, Chouaib, Mekimah, Boualem, Lekouaghet, Badis
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: electrical modeling; optical modeling; organic solar cells; P3HT:PCBM; ZnO space layer
• ISSN: 0031-8949; 1402-4896
• DOI: 10.1088/1402-4896/ad5fc1

The performance of Organic Solar Cells (OSCs) based on a composite photoactive of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and 6,6-phenylC61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) as the donor and acceptor electrons, respectively, is examined in this paper through a simulation study. Optical Zinc oxide (ZnO) spacers between the active layer and the Aluminum (Al) cathode contact layer, serving as a hole transport layer (HTL), are compared to the usual configuration without a ZnO spacer in the second device construction. With and without the ZnO optical spacer, we calculate the electric field intensities and generation rates (G) for a range of incident wavelengths. Under AM 1.5 G at 100 mW cm −2 illumination and in the dark, the short-circuit current density (J sc ) is improved by up to 9.47% after adding the ZnO layer as an optical spacer. In addition, there is a gain of up to 11.42% in external quantum efficiency (EQE). Furthermore, the ZnO spacer layer device has a markedly higher incident photon-to-electron conversion efficiency (IPCE), going from 77% in the control device (without ZnO) to 90% with ZnO spacer layer. The numerical simulation results based on the finite element method (FEM) are consistent with the published experimental data.