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Efficient bulk heterojunction (BHJ) photovoltaic cells (PVs) based on 5 wt. % donors and C70 were fabricated. Tris[4-(5-phenylthiophen-2-yl)phenyl]-amine (TPTPA)-based BHJ PVs show higher power conversion efficiency (ηPCE) than aluminum phthalocyanine chloride-based BHJ PVs. Although the absorption of AlPcCl is complementary to that of C70, TPTPA's high hole mobility and symmetrical molecular structure are likely to be crucial contributing factors to the higher ηPCE. Phase separation occurs in the 5%-TPTPA blend. The device was optimized via replacement of the bathocuproine buffer by a combination of 3,4,9,10-perylenetetracarboxylic bis-benzimidazole and bathocuproine. ηPCE of 5.96% is achieved because of the decreased series resistance.

Highly efficient photovoltaic cells based on a bulk heterojunction configuration composed of C70 with various donor materials at 5 wt. % donor concentration were fabricated. The tetraphenyldibenzoperiflanthene (DBP) donor achieved the highest power conversion efficiency (ηPCE) of 6.4% for the optimized cell. The improved performance with DBP arises from a combination of a higher absorption coefficient than 1,1-bis-(4-bis(4-methyl-phenyl)-amino-phenyl)-cyclohexane and a symmetrical molecular structure. The high ηPCE with only 5 wt. % donor is attributed to a sufficient donor concentration for enhanced Frenkel exciton dissociation in C70, while efficiency and electron mobility decrease at higher donor concentrations.

Organic solar cells (OSCs) based on chloroaluminum phthalocyanine (ClAlPc) as donor and fullerene C60 as acceptor with a multi-tandem structure were fabricated. We demonstrated very high open-circuit voltage (VOC) and enhanced power conversion efficiency (PCE) for the multi-tandem OSCs. Using a fivefold structure, we obtained PCE of 2.49% with a VOC of 3.50 V, in comparison with PCE of ∼2% and VOC of 0.72–0.81 V for the single device. We also fabricated a tenfold-stacked OSC showing an extremely high VOC of 5.89 V. The multi-tandem OSCs with very high VOC have great potential for applications in limited-area low-power electronics.

We report on indium tin oxide (ITO)-free and metal-free semitransparent organic solar cells with a high-conductivity poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) (PH1000) as both the bottom and the top electrodes. The PH1000 film showed a conductivity of 680±50 S/cm. A ZnO layer was used as an interlayer to produce an electron-selective electrode. The semitransparent devices with a structure of glass/PH1000/ZnO/poly(3-hexylthiophene):phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester/PEDOT:PSS (CPP 105 D)/PH1000 exhibited an average power conversion efficiency of 1.8% estimated for 100 mW/cm2 air mass 1.5 global illumination. This geometry alleviates the need of vacuum deposition of a top electrode.

High performance solution-processed n-channel organic field-effect transistors based on [6,6]-phenyl C61 butyric acid methyl ester with low operating voltages (3 V) are demonstrated using a high-k hafnium dioxide gate dielectric grown by atomic layer deposition. Devices exhibit excellent n-channel performance with electron mobility values up to 0.14 cm2/V s, threshold voltages of ∼0.3 V, current on/off ratios >105, and very low values of subthreshold slope (∼140 mV/decade).

We report a thin-film encapsulation method for organic electronics that combines the deposition of a layer of SiOx or SiNx (100 nm) by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition followed by a layer of Al2O3 (10–50 nm) by atomic layer deposition and a 1-μm-thick layer of parylene by chemical vapor deposition. The effective water vapor transmission rates of the encapsulation was (2±1)×10−5 g/m2 day at 20 °C and 50% relative humidity (RH). The encapsulation was integrated with pentacene/C60 solar cells, which showed no decrease in conversion efficiency after 5800 h of exposure to air demonstrating the effectiveness of the encapsulation methodology.

We report on low-voltage, high-performance amorphous indium gallium zinc oxide n-channel thin-film transistors fabricated using 100-nm-thick Al2O3 grown by atomic layer deposition as the gate dielectric layer. The Al2O3 gate dielectric shows very small current densities and has a capacitance density of 81±1 nF/cm2. Due to a very small contact resistance, transistors with channel lengths ranging from 100 μm down to 5 μm yield a channel-independent, field-effect mobility of 8±1 cm2/V s, subthreshold slopes of 0.1±0.01 V/decade, low threshold voltages of 0.4±0.1 V, and high on-off current ratios up to 6×107 (W/L=400/5 μm) at 5 V.

We report on flexible organic complementary inverters using pentacene and C60 as active semiconductors fabricated on a plastic substrate. Individual transistors as well as inverters show good operational stability with negligible hysteresis. The threshold voltages are comparable for p-channel pentacene and n-channel C60 organic field-effect transistors, and noise margins larger than 80% of the maximum theoretical values were obtained at a supply voltage VDD as low as 3 V. A high dc gain of 180 was achieved at VDD=5 V. The inverters demonstrated good mechanical stability when tested after bending under both tensile and compressive stress.

From temperature dependent studies of pentacene/C60 solar cells in the dark, the reverse saturation current is found to be thermally activated with a barrier height that corresponds to the difference in energy between the highest occupied molecular orbital of the donor and the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital of the acceptor corrected for vacuum level misalignments and the presence of charge-transfer states. From the reverse saturation current in the dark and the short-circuit current under illumination, the open-circuit voltage can be predicted. Examination of several donor materials supports the relationship between reverse saturation current, this barrier height, and open-circuit voltage.

Organic solar cells based on pentacene/C60 heterojunctions were encapsulated using a 200-nm-thick film of Al2O3 deposited by atomic layer deposition (ALD). Encapsulated devices maintained power conversion efficiency after exposure to ambient atmosphere for over 6000h, while devices with no encapsulation degraded rapidly after only 10h of air exposure. In addition, thermal annealing associated with the ALD deposition is shown to improve the open-circuit voltage and power conversion efficiency of the solar cells.

Efficient organic photovoltaic modules and cells have been fabricated based on a blend of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and a soluble C70 derivative, [6,6]-phenyl C71 butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM-70). Power conversion efficiency of P3HT/PCBM-70 cells is estimated at 4.1% for the AM1.5G condition from the spectra of external quantum efficiency. Integrated photovoltaic modules, in which N- individual P3HT/PCBM-70 cells (N=1–4) are connected in series, exhibit a short-circuit current ISC of 1.4±0.1mA and an open-circuit voltage VOC of N×0.621V with a maximum VOC of 2.48V for N=4 under simulated solar illumination (AM1.5G, 85mW∕cm2).