Phthalocyanine based Schottky solar cells

Phthalocyanine (Pc) materials are commonly used in organic solar cells. Four different phthalocyanines, nickel phthalocyanine (NiPc), copper phthalocyanine (CuPc), iron phthalocyanine (FePc), and cobalt phthalocyanine (CoPc) have been investigated for organic solar cell applications. The devices consisted of indium tin oxide (ITO) coated glass substrate, Pc layer, and aluminum (Al) electrode. It has been found that ITO/CuPc/Al Schottky cell exhibits the best performance. To investigate the influence of the active layer thickness on the cell performance, cells with several different thicknesses were fabricated and optimal value was found. Schottky cell exhibits optimal performance with one ohmic and one barrier contact. However, it is suspected that ITO/CuPc contact is not ohmic. Therefore, we have investigated various ITO surface treatments for improving the performance of CuPc based Schottky solar cell. We have found that cell on ITO treated with HCl and UV-ozone exhibits the best performance. AM1 power conversion efficiency can be improved by 30% compared to cell made with untreated ITO substrate. To improve power conversion efficiency, double or multilayer structure are required, and it is expected that suitable ITO treatments for those devices will further improve their performance by improving the contact between ITO and phthalocyanine layer.published_or_final_versio