Anatase TiO ₂ and ITO co-sputtered films for an indium-saving multicomponent electrode in organic solar cells

We report the characteristics of a TiInSnO (TiITO) multicomponent electrode prepared by co-sputtering of ITO and anatase TiO ₂ targets for reducing high-cost indium content in the anode layer of organic solar cells (OSCs). The dependence of electrical, optical, structural, and surface properties of the TiITO multicomponent electrodes on the RF power was investigated in detail. The optimized TiITO (80 W TiO ₂ co-sputtered ITO) electrode exhibited a low sheet resistance of 18.06 /square, a high average optical transmittance of 80.61% and a root mean square roughness of 2.40 nm. The anatase TiO ₂ phase in the ITO matrix prevents the bixbyite structure from attaining the preferred orientation, producing a smooth surface of the TiITO electrode. Moreover, the OSC with the optimized TiITO anode showed an open circuit voltage (0.60 V), short circuit current (8.33 mA/cm ²), fill factor (63.99%) and power conversion efficiency (3.18%) comparable to those of OSCs with a reference ITO electrode. This indicates that the TiITO multicomponent electrode is a promising indium-saving multicomponent electrode that to reduces the indium content in ITO electrodes for low-cost OSCs.