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Updated: Apr 30, 2026

In situ Grazing Incidence Small Angle X-ray Scattering on Roll-To-Roll Coating of Organic Solar Cells with Laboratory X-ray Instrumentation
Published on: March 2, 2021
Built-in potential shift and Schottky-barrier narrowing in organic solar cells with UV-sensitive electron transport
Cheng Li1, Dan Credgington, Doo-Hyun Ko
1Cavendish Laboratory, J J Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0HE, UK. iamjpwang@njtech.edu.cn ncg11@cam.ac.uk.
Abstract:
The performance of organic solar cells incorporating solution-processed titanium suboxide (TiOx) as electron-collecting layers can be improved by UV illumination. We study the mechanism of this improvement using electrical measurements and electroabsorption spectroscopy. We propose a model in which UV illumination modifies the effective work function of the oxide layer through a significant increase in its free electron density. This leads to a dramatic improvement in device power conversion efficiency through several mechanisms - increasing the built-in potential by 0.3 V, increasing the conductivity of the TiOx layer and narrowing the interfacial Schottky barrier between the suboxide and the underlying transparent electrode. This work highlights the importance of considering Fermi-level equilibration when designing multi-layer transparent electrodes.
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