Ultra-Thick Organic Pigment Layer Up to 10 μm Activated by Crystallization in Organic Photovoltaic Cells

• Main Authors: Mikimasa Katayama, Toshihiko Kaji, Satoru Nakao, Masahiro Hiramoto
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2020-01-01
• Series: Frontiers in Energy Research
• Subjects: pigment; crystallization; organic electronics; organic photovoltaics; solar cell; bulk hetero-junction
• Online Access: https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fenrg.2020.00004/full

Organic optoelectronic devices tend to have limited thickness. Organic light emitting diodes (OLED) and organic photovoltaic cells (OPV) made of organic pigments are typically with thickness of a few or a few tens of nanometers. Thickness of organic photovoltaic cells made with polymers exceeds them typically up to the order of a few 100 nm but still necessarily co-optimized with respect to light absorption and charge transport. Here, we demonstrate that crystallization made a 10-μm-thick pigment layer active in a photovoltaic cell, using a prototypical pair of pigments, phthalocyanine, and fullerene. It is proved that crystalline pigment layer with a thickness much greater than what is needed for optical optimization can be utilized for organic optoelectronic devices and that organic optoelectronic devices have potentiality to relief their design from co-optimization of optics and charge transport.