Efficient inverted polymer solar cells based on surface modified FTO transparent electrodes

•Sol-gel AZO films used as ETL on FTO electrode for inverted polymer solar cells.•PVP film was inserted as AZO surface modifier to improve AZO surface properties.•PVP film show superior electron extraction due to improved morphology of ETL.•PCE increase from 2.52% to 4.14% of IPSCs, compared to without PVP layer device.

Nano-textured transparent electrodes are commonly used to receive higher light absorption in inverted polymer solar cells (IPSC). However, the performance of the device is often restricted by the highly rough morphology of the textured transparent electrode. In this work, a Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) interlayer was inserted as a surface modifier in IPSCs based on a fluorine-doped SnO2 electrode (FTO). The inserted layer facilitates electron extraction due to improved interface morphology of the AZO electron transport layer (ETL). This enhancement resulted in an approximately 63% increase in power conversion efficiency from 2.52% to 4.14% of IPSCs based on the FTO electrode compared to solar cells without PVP layer.

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