Acidic buffer-free organic solar cells using vanadium-doped indium oxide anodes

We developed V-doped In₂O₃ (IVO) films to use as a buffer- And anode-integrated electrode for acidic poly (3,4-ethylene dioxylene thiophene):poly (styrene sulfonic acid) (PEDOT:PSS) buffer layer free-organic solar cells (OSCs). By co-sputtering of V₂O₅ and In₂O₃ targets and rapid thermal annealing, we obtained IVOfilmswith a sheet resistance of 41.7γ/square, and an optical transmittance of 80.4%, and a work function of 5.0 eV. The P3HT:PCBM-based OSCs fabricated on an IVO anode successfully functioned without an acidic PEDOT:PSS buffer layer and showed a PCE of 2.91%, which was much higher than that (1.068%) of a PEDOT:PSS free OSC with an ITO anode. The elimination of the acidic buffer layer in OSCs enabled us to produce the reliable OSCs with decreased coating steps.