Energy recycling under ambient illumination for internet-of-things using metal/oxide/metal-based colorful organic photovoltaics

Young-Jun You; Muhammad Ahsan Saeed; Shafidah Shafian; Jisoo Kim; Sang Hyeon Kim; Sung Hyeon Kim; Kyungkon Kim; Jae Won Shim

doi:10.1088/1361-6528/ac13e7

Energy recycling under ambient illumination for internet-of-things using metal/oxide/metal-based colorful organic photovoltaics

Nanotechnology. 2021 Aug 27;32(46). doi: 10.1088/1361-6528/ac13e7.

Authors

Young-Jun You¹, Muhammad Ahsan Saeed¹, Shafidah Shafian², Jisoo Kim¹, Sang Hyeon Kim³, Sung Hyeon Kim³, Kyungkon Kim², Jae Won Shim³

Affiliations

¹ Division of Electronics and Electrical Engineering, Dongguk University, Seoul 04620, Republic of Korea.
² Department of Chemistry and Nano Science, Ewha Woman's University, Seoul 03760, Republic of Korea.
³ School of Electrical Engineering, Korea University, Seoul 02841, Republic of Korea.

PMID: 34256361
DOI: 10.1088/1361-6528/ac13e7

Abstract

Colorful indoor organic photovoltaics (OPVs) have attracted considerable attention in recent years for their autonomous function in internet-of-things (IoT) devices. In this study, a solution-processed TiO₂layer in a metal-oxide-metal (MOM) color filter electrode is used for light energy recycling in P3HT:ICBA-based indoor OPVs. The MOM electrode allows for tuning of the optical cavity mode to maximize photocurrent production by modulating the thickness of the TiO₂layer in the sandwich structure. This approach preserves the OPVs' optoelectronic properties without damaging the photoactive layer and enables them to display a suitable range of vivid colors. The optimized MOM-OPVs demonstrated an excellent power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 8.8% ± 0.2%, which is approximately 20% higher than that of reference opaque OPVs under 1000 lx light emitting diode illumination. This can be attributed to the high photocurrent density due to the nonresonant light reflected from metals into the photoactive layer. Additionally, the proposed MOM-OPVs exhibited high external quantum efficiency and large parasitic shunt resistances, leading to improved fill factor and PCE values. Thus, the study's MOM electrode provides excellent feasibility for realizing colorful and efficient indoor OPVs for IoT applications.

Keywords: ambient light conditions; colorful organic photovoltaics; interfacial optimization; metal/oxide/metal electrode; solution-processed TiO2.