Transparent Conductive ITO/Ag/ITO Electrode Deposited at Room Temperature for Organic Solar Cells

We investigated the optical and electrical properties of room-temperature-deposited indium-tin-oxide (ITO)/Ag (19 nm)/ITO multilayer films as a function of ITO layer thickness. The optical and electrical properties of the ITO/Ag/ITO films were compared with those of high-temperature-deposited ITO-only films for use as an anode in organic solar cells (OSCs). The ITO/Ag/ITO multilayer films had sheet resistances in the range 5.40–5.78 Ω/sq, while the ITO-only film showed 14.18 Ω/sq. The carrier concentration of the ITO/Ag/ITO films gradually decreased from 2.01 × 10²² to 7.20 × 10²¹ cm⁻³ as the ITO thickness increased from 17 nm to 83 nm. At 530 nm, the transmittance of the ITO/Ag/ITO (50 nm/19 nm/50 nm) films was ~90%, while that of the ITO-only film gave 96.5%. The multilayer film had a smooth surface with a root mean square (RMS) roughness of 0.49 nm. Poly (3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT):[6,6]-phenyl-C61 butyric acid methylester (PCBM) bulk heterojunction (BHJ)-based OSCs fabricated with the ITO/Ag/ITO (50 nm/19 nm/50 nm) film showed a power conversion efficiency (PCE) (2.84%) comparable to that of OSCs with a conventional ITO-only anode (3.48%).