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A Silver‐Free, Reflective Substrate Electrode for Electron Extraction in Top‐Illuminated Organic Photovoltaics
Author(s) -
Tyler Martin S.,
Hutter Oliver S.,
Walker Dr Marc,
Hatton Dr Ross A.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
chemphyschem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.016
H-Index - 140
eISSN - 1439-7641
pISSN - 1439-4235
DOI - 10.1002/cphc.201402880
Subject(s) - materials science , electrode , substrate (aquarium) , x ray photoelectron spectroscopy , work function , organic solar cell , layer (electronics) , evaporation , optoelectronics , oxide , photovoltaics , analytical chemistry (journal) , chemical engineering , nanotechnology , chemistry , polymer , organic chemistry , composite material , ecology , oceanography , physics , photovoltaic system , biology , engineering , metallurgy , thermodynamics , geology
The choice of metals suitable as the reflective substrate electrode for top‐illuminated organic photovoltaics (OPVs) is extremely limited. Herein, we report a novel substrate electrode for this class of OPV architecture based on an Al | Cu | AlO x triple‐layer structure, which offers a reflectivity comparable to that of Al over the wavelength range 400–900 nm, a work function suitable for efficient electron extraction in OPVs and high stability towards oxidation. In addition to demonstrating the advantage of this composite electrode over Al in model top‐illuminated OPVs, we also present the results of a photoelectron spectroscopy study, which show that an oxidised 0.8 nm Al layer deposited by thermal evaporation onto an Al | Cu reflective substrate electrode is sufficient to block oxidation of the underlying Cu by air or during deposition of a ZnO 1− x electron‐transport layer. This is remarkable given that the self‐limiting oxide thickness on Al metal is greater than 2 nm.