Influence of Pressure on Contacts between Layers in Organic Photovoltaic Cells

Abstract

This paper explored the effects of pressure on contacts between layers of organic photovoltaic cells with poly (3-hexylthiophene):phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (P3HT:PCBM) as the active layer. The contacts between the layers are modeled using analytical concepts and finite element models. The potential effects of surface roughness and dust particles are modeled along with the effects of lamination pressure and adhesion energy. The results show that, increased pressure is associated with decreased void length or increased contact length. The contacts associated with the interfaces between the active layer and the hole/electron injection layer poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene: poly styrenesulphonate (PEDOT.PSS) and Molybdenum trioxide (MoO3) are also compared. The implications of the results are discussed for the design of stamping/lamination processes for the fabrication of organic photovoltaic cells.