Robust and Sustainable Indium Anode Leading to Efficient and Stable Organic Solar Cells

• Published in: Advanced materials (Weinheim) Vol. 35; no. 39; p. e2303729
• Main Authors: Xiang, Jiale, Liu, Zhi‐Xi, Chen, Hongzheng, Li, Chang‐Zhi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Germany Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.09.2023
• Subjects: Anodes; Energy conversion efficiency; Energy levels; Indium oxides; Indium tin oxides; Materials science; Modules; Photovoltaic cells; Solar cells; Thermal stability; organic solar cells; anode interfacial layers; high stability; indium recovery; modules
• ISSN: 0935-9648; 1521-4095; 1521-4095
• DOI: 10.1002/adma.202303729

The fast degradation of the charge‐extraction interface at indium tin oxide (ITO) poses a significant obstacle to achieving long‐term stability for organic solar cells (OSCs). Herein, a sustainable approach for recycling non‐sustainable indium to construct efficient and stable OSCs and scale‐up modules is developed. It is revealed that the recovered indium chloride (InCl 3 ) from indium oxide waste can be applied as an effective hole‐selective interfacial layer for the ITO electrode (noted as InCl 3 –ITO anode) through simple aqueous fabrication, facilitating not only energy level alignment to photoactive blends but also mitigating parasitic absorption and charge recombination losses of the corresponding OSCs. As a result, OSCs and modules consisting of InCl 3 –ITO anodes achieve remarkable power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of 18.92% and 15.20% (active area of 18.73 cm 2 ), respectively. More importantly, the InCl 3 –ITO anode can significantly extend the thermal stability of derived OSCs, with an extrapolated T 80 lifetime of ≈10 000 h.