Organic solar cells developed on steel substrates can convert a steel roof into an energy-producing device, which can potentially launch new coated steel for roofing in future. For realization of flexible solar cells on cheap opaque substrates such as steel foils, it is vital to develop new top transparent conducting electrodes as alternatives to indium tin oxide. Such integration will also lead to a value addition of steel foils for roofing applications. An organic solar cells consisting of a combination of an organic polymer and organic semiconductor PCBM developed on steel substrates can potentially convert a steel roof into an energy-producing device with greater efficiency than those currently available in the market. The potential of third-generation solar cell technologies lies in their integration with flexible and conformal surfaces. However, this integration requires developing new top transparent conducting electrodes as alternatives to indium tin oxide, an optoelectronic material currently in use and poses limitations because of its brittleness and as its optoelectronic efficiency varies with temperature. IIT Professor Ashish Garg’s lab at IIT Kanpur has developed organic solar cells that combine the organic polymer PTB7 as a donor and PCBM as an acceptor. The MoO3/Au/MoO3 top electrode is used to fabricate the devices on opaque steel substrates. These solar cells can convert a steel roof into an energy-producing device more efficiently than currently. It was published in the journal ‘Energy Technology’. Scientists noted “Organic solar cell devices fabricated on opaque steel substrates with a MoO3/Au/MoO3 top electrode clearly showed improvement in the photovoltaic performance by 1.5 times, compared with those obtained with single layer top metal electrodes.” The study shows that how multi-layered electrodes with the configuration MoO3/Au/MoO3 might be integrated with organic solar cells. MoO3 is a great choice as a capping layer for improved light coupling throughout the visible region, resulting in up to improved twofold transparency over an Au-only film. This improvement in the optical transmission of MoO3/Au/MoO3 films, as studied by optical ellipsometry, suggests that higher refractive indices and lower extinction coefficients of MoO3 films compared to Au films make MoO3 films an excellent choice for capping layers. Additionally, as shown by XPS studies, the metallic Mo+4 cations at the Au/MoO3 interface enhance the metallic character of the MoO3 film close to the interface, reducing the resistivity of the trilayer MoO3/Au/MoO3, which is close to twice that of ITO.
Organic solar cells developed on steel substrates can convert a steel roof into an energy-producing device, which can potentially launch new coated steel for roofing in future. For realization of flexible solar cells on cheap opaque substrates such as steel foils, it is vital to develop new top transparent conducting electrodes as alternatives to indium tin oxide. Such integration will also lead to a value addition of steel foils for roofing applications. An organic solar cells consisting of a combination of an organic polymer and organic semiconductor PCBM developed on steel substrates can potentially convert a steel roof into an energy-producing device with greater efficiency than those currently available in the market. The potential of third-generation solar cell technologies lies in their integration with flexible and conformal surfaces. However, this integration requires developing new top transparent conducting electrodes as alternatives to indium tin oxide, an optoelectronic material currently in use and poses limitations because of its brittleness and as its optoelectronic efficiency varies with temperature. IIT Professor Ashish Garg’s lab at IIT Kanpur has developed organic solar cells that combine the organic polymer PTB7 as a donor and PCBM as an acceptor. The MoO3/Au/MoO3 top electrode is used to fabricate the devices on opaque steel substrates. These solar cells can convert a steel roof into an energy-producing device more efficiently than currently. It was published in the journal ‘Energy Technology’. Scientists noted “Organic solar cell devices fabricated on opaque steel substrates with a MoO3/Au/MoO3 top electrode clearly showed improvement in the photovoltaic performance by 1.5 times, compared with those obtained with single layer top metal electrodes.” The study shows that how multi-layered electrodes with the configuration MoO3/Au/MoO3 might be integrated with organic solar cells. MoO3 is a great choice as a capping layer for improved light coupling throughout the visible region, resulting in up to improved twofold transparency over an Au-only film. This improvement in the optical transmission of MoO3/Au/MoO3 films, as studied by optical ellipsometry, suggests that higher refractive indices and lower extinction coefficients of MoO3 films compared to Au films make MoO3 films an excellent choice for capping layers. Additionally, as shown by XPS studies, the metallic Mo+4 cations at the Au/MoO3 interface enhance the metallic character of the MoO3 film close to the interface, reducing the resistivity of the trilayer MoO3/Au/MoO3, which is close to twice that of ITO.
