Microwave annealing of polymer solar cells with various transparent anode materials

Abstract

Efficient organic solar cells were produced through annealing with microwave radiation (2.45 GHz) within only 8 s. Efficiencies of up to 3% were obtained, similar to those of devices annealed with a hot plate for 300 s. We examined the effect of microwave irradiation on the individual layers of the solar cell architecture. Microwave absorption was found to be related exclusively to the sheet resistance of the layers. As a result, in a polymer solar cell comprising an electrode based on a transparent conducting oxide (TCO) the microwave annealing is evidenced to be directly linked to the microwave absorption in the TCO layer.