Semi-Transparent Organic Photovoltaic Cells with Dielectric/Metal/Dielectric Top Electrode: Influence of the Metal on Their Performances

In order to grow semi-transparent organic photovoltaic cells (OPVs), multilayer dielectric/metal/dielectric (D/M/D) structures are used as a transparent top electrode in inverted OPVs. Two different electrodes are probed, MoO(3)/Ag/MoO(3) and MoO(3)/Ag/Cu:Ag/ZnS. Both of them exhibit high transmission in visible and small sheet resistance. Semi-transparent inverted OPVs using these electrodes as the top anode are probed. The active organic layers consist in the SubPc/C(60) couple. The dependence of the OPV performances on the top electrode was investigated. The results show that far better results are achieved when the top anode MoO(3)/Ag/MoO(3) is used. The OPV efficiency obtained was only 20% smaller in comparison with the opaque OPV, but with a transparency of nearly 50% in a broad range of the visible light (400–600 nm). In the case of MoO(3)/Ag/Cu:Ag/ZnS top anode, the small efficiency obtained is due to the presence of some Cu diffusion in the MoO(3) layer, which degrades the contact anode/organic material.