Sungho Woo

Inverted polymer fullerene solar cells exceeding 10% efficiency with poly(2-ethyl-2-oxazoline) nanodots on electron-collecting buffer layers.

Polymer solar cells have been spotlighted due to their potential for low-cost manufacturing but their efficiency is still less than required for commercial application as lightweight/flexible modules. Forming a dipole layer at the electron-collecting interface has been suggested as one of the more attractive approaches for efficiency enhancement. However, only a few dipole layer material types have been reported so far, including only one non-ionic (charge neutral) polymer. Here we show that a further neutral polymer, namely poly(2-ethyl-2-oxazoline) (PEOz) can be successfully used as a dipole layer. Inclusion of a PEOz layer, in particular with a nanodot morphology, increases the effective work function at the electron-collecting interface within inverted solar cells and thermal annealing of PEOz layer leads to a state-of-the-art 10.74% efficiency for single-stack bulk heterojunction blend structures comprising poly[4,8-bis(5-(2-ethylhexyl)thiophen-2-yl)benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b′]dithiophene-alt-3-fluorothieno[3,4-b]thiophene-2-carboxylate] as donor and [6,6]-phenyl-C71-butyric acid methyl ester as acceptor.

In situ-prepared composite materials of PEDOT: PSS buffer layer-metal nanoparticles and their application to organic solar cells.

We report an enhancement in the efficiency of organic solar cells via the incorporation of gold (Au) or silver (Ag) nanoparticles (NPs) in the hole-transporting buffer layer of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS), which was formed on an indium tin oxide (ITO) surface by the spin-coating of PEDOT:PSS-Au or Ag NPs composite solution. The composite solution was synthesized by a simple in situ preparation method which involved the reduction of chloroauric acid (HAuCl4) or silver nitrate (AgNO3) with sodium borohydride (NaBH4) solution in the presence of aqueous PEDOT:PSS media. The NPs were well dispersed in the PEDOT:PSS media and showed a characteristic absorption peak due to the surface plasmon resonance effect. Organic solar cells with the structure of ITO/PEDOT:PSS-Au, Ag NPs/poly(3-hexylthiophene):[6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (P3HT:PCBM)/LiF/Al exhibited an 8% improvement in their power conversion efficiency mainly due to the enlarged surface roughness of the PEDOT:PSS, which lead to an improvement in the charge collection and ultimately improvements in the short-circuit current density and fill factor.

Work Function Modification of Indium–Tin Oxide by Surface Plasma Treatments Using Different Gases

We report on the effects of surface treatment with N2, O2, and N2O plasmas on the work function of indium–tin oxide (ITO). UV photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS) showed that the work function on the ITO surface treated with N2O plasma increased more than that on the samples treated with N2 or O2 plasma. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) showed that the intensity of the O–O bonding peak at 532.3 eV markedly increased owing to the adsorption of O- ions on the ITO surface from breaking bonds in N2O gas by the plasma. The dipole layer formed by O- ions on the ITO surface increases the work function of ITO. Accordingly, N2O plasma treatment leads to a reduction of the potential barrier between the Fermi level of ITO and the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) level of an organic layer when ITO is used as an anode for organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs) and related devices. Therefore, N2O plasma treatment enhances the hole-injection properties from the ITO thin film to the organic layer.

Formation of Macropore and Three-Dimensional Nanorod Array in p-Type Silicon

We carried out a study on the change in pore wall thickness depending on the current density in p-type silicon. We attempted the formation of a uniform macropore or nanorod array with a high aspect ratio in p-type silicon by electrochemical etching through the optimization of the hydrogen fluoride (HF)/organic electrolyte composition and the design of the mask pattern. The electrochemical etching of p-type silicon in the HF: dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO): deionized (DI) water = 1:5:5 electrolyte can control the velocity of a reaction between an electrolyte and a hole necessary for the electrochemical etching of silicon through the mixing of the protic property of DI water and the aprotic property of DMSO. In this study, we fabricated a p-type silicon nanorod array of three-dimensional structures with an approximately 350 nm diameter from macroporous Si by applying two-step currents (40 mA, 200 s + 38 mA, 1600 s) to a 1.8 cm2 circular area using an optimized HF: DMSO: DI water = 1:5:5 electrolyte composition.

Phenanthroline diimide as an organic electron-injecting material for organic light-emitting devices

We report a diimide-type organic electron-injecting material, bis-[1,10]phenanthrolin-5-yl-pyromellitic diimide (Bphen-PMDI), for organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs), which was synthesized from its monomers, pyromellitic dianhydride (PMDA) and 1,10-phenanthrolin-5-amine (PTA). The vacuum-purified Bphen-PMDI powder showed high glass transition (∼230 °C) and thermal decomposition (∼400 °C) temperatures, whereas neither melting point nor particular long-range crystal nanostructures were observed from its solid samples. The optical band gap energy and the ionization potential of the Bphen-PMDI film were 3.6 eV and 6.0 eV, respectively, leading to the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) energy of 2.4 eV. Inserting a 1 nm thick Bphen-PMDI layer between the emission layer and the cathode layer improved the device current density by 10-fold and the luminance by 6-fold, compared to the OLED without the Bphen-PMDI layer. The result suggests that an effective electron tunnel injection process occurs through the Bphen-PMDI layer.

Effects of Solvents on ITO Cracks in Ultrasonic Cleaning of ITO-Coated Flexible Substrates for Polymer Solar Cells

We report an experimental optimization of the cleaning process in the fabrication of flexible polymer solar cells using an indium tin oxide (ITO) coated poly(ethylene naphthalate) (PEN) substrate. The effects of the solubility parameters of the cleaning solvents on the occurrence of ITO cracks have been systematically investigated. The experimental results showed that the ITO cracks caused during the ultrasonic cleaning process were mainly affected by differences between the solubility parameters of the solvent and that of the PEN substrate, not by direct interaction between the solvent and the ITO layer. Our results provide a simple method for reducing ITO cracks during wet cleaning processes by selecting solvents with solubility parameters which differ significantly from those of the flexible substrates.

Effects of Hole-Collecting Buffer Layers and Electrodes on the Performance of Flexible Plastic Organic Photovoltaics

Here we report the influences of the sheet resistance () of a hole-collecting electrode (indium tin oxide, ITO) and the conductivity of a hole-collecting buffer layer (poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate), PEDOT:PSS) on the device performance of flexible plastic organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices. The series resistance () of OPV devices steeply increases with increasing of the ITO electrode, which leads to a significant decrease of short-circuit current density () and fill factor (FF) and power conversion efficiency, while the open-circuit voltage () was almost constant. By applying high-conductivity PEDOT:PSS, the efficiency of OPV devices with high values of 160 Ω/□ and 510 Ω/□ is greatly improved, by a factor of 3.5 and 6.5, respectively. These results indicate that the conductivities of ITO and PEDOT:PSS will become more important to consider for manufacturing large-area flexible plastic OPV modules.

Full-Color LCD Microdisplay System Based on OLED Backlight Unit and Field-Sequential Color Driving Method

We developed a single-panel LCD microdisplay system using a field-sequential color (FSC) driving method and an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) as a backlight unit (BLU). The 0.76′′ OLED BLU with red, green, and blue (RGB) colors was fabricated by a conventional UV photolithography patterning process and by vacuum deposition of small molecule organic layers. The field-sequential driving frequency was set to 255 Hz to allow each of the RGB colors to be generated without color mixing at the given display frame rate. A prototype FSC LCD microdisplay system consisting of a 0.7′′ LCD microdisplay panel and the 0.76′′ OLED BLU successfully exhibited color display and moving picture images using the FSC driving method.

Fabrication of Sb2S3 Hybrid Solar Cells Based on Embedded Photoelectrodes of Ag Nanowires-Au Nanoparticles Composite

The Ag nanowire (NW) + Au nanoparticle (NP)-embedded TiO2 photoelectrodes were adopted for conventional planar TiO2-based Sb2S3 hybrid solar cells to improve the cell efficiency. Compared to conventional planar TiO2-based Sb2S3 hybrid solar cells, the Ag NW + Au NP/TiO2-based Sb2S3 hybrid solar cells exhibited an improvement of approximately 40% in the cell efficiency due to the significant increase in both Jsc and Voc. These enhanced Jsc and Voc were attributed to the increased surface area, charge-collection efficiency, and light absorption by embedding the Ag NWs + Au NPs composite. The Ag NW + Au NP/TiO2-based Sb2S3 hybrid solar cells showed the highest efficiency of 2.17%, demonstrating that the Ag NW + Au NP-embedded TiO2 photoelectrode was a suitable photoelectrode structure to improve the power conversion efficiency in the Sb2S3 hybrid solar cells.

Optical properties of subwavelength patterned metal gratings for photonic device application and an alternative proposal

We investigated optical properties of subwavelength patterned metal gratings for photonic device application. It was known that optical transmittance of metal films with subwavelength periodic hole arrays can be controlled by applying a dielectric overlay to the film and the films can act as wavelength or frequency selective filters. Following advancement in lithography technology it could be applied up to complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) image sensors (CIS) by patterning metal layers placed on each pixel’s photo detective device. However it is not easy to replace organic color filters applied on CIS up to date because the standard CIS structure has multi-metal layers, thick dielectric layers, and too thick metal layers. In this work, we explore possibility to integrate the metal film into a CIS chip and present an alternative proposal by computer simulation utilizing finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method. We applied aluminum (Al) for the metal film and the dispersion information associated with Al was derived from the Lorentz-Drude model. We expect that this work could contribute to search to apply subwavelength patterned metal gratings to photonic devices.