Improvement of the efficiency of phthalocyanine organic Schottky solar cells with ITO electrode treatment

Abstract

The devices investigated in this work consisted of an indium tin oxide (ITO)-coated glass substrate, phthalocyanine (Pc) layer and an aluminum electrode. The Schottky cell exhibits optimal performance with one ohmic and one barrier contact. The work function of the ITO film is typically around 4.5-4.8 eV, while the HOMO level of phthalocyanine films is typically around 5.2 eV. It is known that surface treatment of ITO can change its work function. We investigated various ITO surface treatments for improving the performance of phthalocyanine-based Schottky solar cells. We found that cells of ITO treated with HCl and UV ozone exhibited the best performance. Four different phthalocyanines (Pcs), namely nickel phthalocyanine (NiPc), copper phthalocyanine (CuPc), iron phthalocyanine (FePc) and cobalt phthalocyanine (CoPc) were investigated. A power conversion efficiency as high as 10% was achieved for the CuPc cell with monochromatic excitation at 632.8 nm, with a light intensity of 2.7 μW/cm2.