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Efficiency improvement of indoor organic solar cell by optimization of the doping level
of the hole extraction layer

Swarup Biswas, Young-Jun You, Yongju Lee, Jae Won Shim, Hyeok Kim

PII: S0143-7208(20)31416-9
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dyepig.2020.108719
Reference: DYPI 108719

To appear in: Dyes and Pigments

Received Date: 23 April 2020

Revised Date: 14 July 2020
Accepted Date: 14 July 2020

Please cite this article as: Biswas S, You Y-J, Lee Y, Shim JW, Kim H, Efficiency improvement of indoor
organic solar cell by optimization of the doping level of the hole extraction layer, Dyes and Pigments,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dyepig.2020.108719.

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Efficiency improvement of indoor organic solar

cell by optimization of the doping level of the hole

extraction layer
Swarup Biswas1†, Young-Jun You2†, Yongju Lee1, Jae Won Shim3*, Hyeok Kim1*
1
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Institute of Information Technology, University of

Seoul, 163 Seoulsiripdaero, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul 02504, Republic of Korea

2
Division of Electronics and Electrical Engineering, Dongguk University, Seoul 04620, Republic of

Korea
3
School of Electrical Engineering, Korea University, 145 Anam-ro, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul 02841, Republic

of Korea

*Corresponding Authors.
Tel.: 82-2-3290-3224 fax: 82-2-921-0544. E-mail address: jwshim19@korea.ac.kr (J.W. Shim)
Tel.: 82-2-6490-2354 fax: 82-2-6490-2314. E-mail address: hyeok.kim@uos.ac.kr (H. Kim)
†
Swarup Biswas and Young-Jun You contributed equally to this work.
ABSTRACT

Currently, the use of self- and low-powered, small dimension electronic devices for indoor use,

such as smart meters, sensors, actuators, and wearable devices, is increasing our standard of

living via the Internet of Things technology. Normal power sources are not recommended for

these devices because of their small scale; however, an efficient means of powering them is via

ambient energy harvesters. Indoor photovoltaic (IPV) cells are a very good power source option

due to the ease of accessibility and availability of indoor light. Furthermore, IPV cells based on

organic materials are one of the best options due to their good spectral matching and mechanical

flexibility. Despite tremendous effort being devoted to the improvement of efficiency,

applicability, longevity, and commercial acceptability of organic IPV devices, further research is

needed to achieve their integrated use. In an organic IPV cell, the hole extraction layer (HEL) is

an important component used to improve the hole extraction ability of the device. An alternative

p-type semiconducting material that is cheaper, more environmentally stable, more processable,

less sensitive to humidity, and highly conductive, is highly recommended. Therefore, in this

work, we have attempted to develop a highly efficient organic IPV cell by optimizing the doping

concentration of its HEL. We have used water-stable polyaniline (PANI) (doped with poly

(sodium-4-styrenesulfonate) (PSS)) as the HEL because of its good environmental stability, low

acidity, low price, and insensitivity to humidity. It has been observed that the indoor light energy

harvesting ability of the device is strongly dependent on the doping concentration of its HEL and

at an optimized concentration of PSS (100 mg), under the illumination of a 500 lx LED lamp; the

device exhibits a power conversion efficiency value of 8.1%.

Keywords: organic indoor photovoltaic; hole extraction layer; doped polyaniline; doping level.
 Introduction

The Internet of Things (IoT) is changing our lifestyle day by day. It has been estimated that

around fifty billion electronic devices, such as mobile phones, sensors, actuators, and wearable

devices, will be connected via this technology by 2020 [1]. Powering these devices poses a great

challenge as the use of a normal battery is not possible. For the last few years, various

alternatives with power in the range 1-100 μW, which are essentially ambient energy harvesters,

have been tested [2-5]. It is evident that most of the components in an IoT network are operating

in indoor environments; among different ambient energy sources, indoor light is a very suitable

option because of its easy accessibility. The photon energy from indoor light is harvested by

photovoltaic (PV) cells. Very few people have tried to utilize PV cells for harvesting low-

intensity indoor light as most PV cells are designed for harvesting sunlight [6-11]. Recent

development of organic semiconducting material based indoor photovoltaic (IPV) cells is

gradually changing this scenario. It has already been observed that organic material-based PV

cells operate more efficiently under low-intensity indoor light than high-intensity sunlight due to

their higher absorption coefficient value within the visible spectrum [9-10, 12]. Furthermore,

their ultra-thin nature and mechanical flexibility make their attachment to various devices of an

IoT network more feasible, allowing those devices to be powered via the harvesting of indoor

light energy [13-14]. During the last decade, there have been significant efforts to develop low-

cost, highly efficient, and environmentally stable organic IPV devices [5, 12, 15-20]. However,

this is not adequate for their commercialization; various aspects, such as device lifetime, power

conversion efficiency, mechanical stability, and production costs need to be optimized. In an

organic PV device, generally, a very thin buffer layer (hole extraction layer (HEL)) of p-type

semiconducting material is formed between the anode and the active layer. This blocks the flow
of electrons toward the anode and extracts holes from the active layer, sending them toward the

anode. It also prevents charge carrier recombination and reduces leakage current within the

device [21-22]. Until now, various organic, inorganic, and hybrid p-type semiconducting

materials, such as poly (3, 4-Ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate [23-25], polyaniline

doped with poly (sodium-4-styrenesulfonate) (PANI:PSS) [26], molybdenum trioxide [13], and

molybdenum oxide [5], have been utilized as the HEL of organic IPV cells. Among these,

PANI:PSS is one of the most promising p-type semiconducting materials that can be utilized as

an efficient HEL of organic IPV cells due to its good water processability, low acidity, good

mechanical stability, low cost, high environmental stability, and tunable electrical conductivity.

Despite this potential, until now, very few attempts have been made to apply it as the HEL of an

organic IPV cell [26]. Furthermore, it has previously been observed that the electrical

conductivity of conjugated polymers, such as PANI, can be tuned by controlling the

concentration of their doping reagent [22]. Hence, it is expected that the performance level of an

organic IPV cell can be improved by optimizing the doping level of their HEL.

In this work, we synthesized 5 batches of PANI with different doping (PSS) concentrations.

Subsequently, we have characterized the films formed by the materials through standard

characterization techniques. We then used those materials as the HEL of organic IPV devices.

For the active layer (with optimized thickness), we used poly (3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) as the

donor and [6, 6]-indene-C60 bisadduct (ICBA) as the acceptor. Thereafter, the IPV cells were

tested under a 500 lx white LED lamp to develop a highly efficient organic IPV device by

optimizing the doping concentration of their HEL.

Methodology
 Materials

For this study, we purchased aniline (An), 1, 2-dicholorobenzene (DCB), and ammonium

peroxodisulfate (APS) from Sigma Aldrich. The doping reagent PSS with a molecular weight of

70000 was collected from Alfa Aesar. The semiconducting donor P3HT (4002 E) was purchased

from Rieke Metals, and the acceptor ICBA was collected from Luminescence Technology Corp.

We deionized (~18 MΩ) the water using a RO 15 water purifying system. To fabricate the

organic IPV devices, we used glass substrates (sheet resistance: 10 Ω/sq) coated with indium tin

oxide (ITO). The substrates were purchased from All for LAB. The thickness of the ITO layer

was ~200 nm. For cleaning purposes, we used phosphate-free Liquinox®, a liquid detergent

collected from Alconox, Inc.

Preparation of PSS doped PANI

Use of PSS as a doping reagent of PANI has two advantages. As PSS is an organic acid; it can

improve the conductivity of PANI through protonation. On the other hand it can improve the

stability of the PANI within water significantly. Our main objective of this work is to utilize the

doped PANI as HEL of an indoor OPV. Therefore, PANI with good conductivity value and

better processability is strongly desired. So, here we have used PSS as a doping reagent of PANI.

We synthesized PANI with different doping (PSS) concentrations through a standard synthesis

route [26-27]. Previously, most of the people used hydrochloric (HCL) acid as a co-dopant

during the synthesis of PANI:PSS [28]. In an OPV HEL should have lower acidic level, because

higher acidic HEL can reduce the lifetime of the OPV. So, here we used only PSS as a doping

reagent of PANI during the preparation of PANI:PSS. First, we distilled An twice via vacuum

distillation. We then made 5 different batches of An solution by dissolving 100 mg of doubly

distilled An into10 ml deionized (DI) water. The mixtures were then stirred at 1000 rpm for 45
minutes, maintaining the temperature below 5 °C. Subsequently, we mixed designated amounts

of PSS with the An solution and dissolved the PSS within the solution through vigorous stirring

(1000 rpm), for 5 h. During this period An monomers were attached with PSS molecules through

the electrostatic interaction between SO3- ion of PSS and NH3+ ion of An [28]. To prepare PANI

with different levels of PSS we varied the concentration of PSS within the solution from 50 mg

to 250 mg, with a fixed interval of 50 mg. simultaneously, we prepared 5 batches of APS (1.08

mM) solution within 5 ml DI water and preserved this for 5 h, keeping the temperature below 5

°C. Thereafter, we poured the APS solution onto the mixture of An and PSS. The final mixtures

were then stirred for 24 h at 1000 rpm, while the temperature was maintained below 5 °C. This

procedure prepared five different batches of water-stable PANI (doped with PSS), each having a

different concentration of PSS (50 mg, 100 mg, 150 mg, 200 mg, and 250 mg). For further

studies, we have named these materials as PP 1, PP 2, PP 3, PP 4, and PP 5 for 50 mg, 100 mg,

150 mg, 200 mg, and 250 mg of PSS, respectively. At the end of the reaction, sulfuric acid

(H2SO4) was formed as a by-product due to the use of APS as oxidizing reagent [29]. This by-

product could participate to doping also. Previously, it was observed that the sole effect of the

by-product H2SO4 is very mild, (the synthesized PANI had very poor semiconducting property).

Also, the water stability of the material was very poor. So, use of another doping reagent is

highly needed [30]. Therefore, here we have used PSS as a doping reagent of PANI to improve

its electrical charge transport property and water stability. Furthermore, here we used same

amount of APS for synthesizing all the samples and varied the weight percentage of PSS only;

Therefore, the presence of by-product within the final material had no effect on the overall

findings.

Solution preparation
We prepared the active material of the devices through the mixing of the donor (P3HT) and

acceptor (ICBA), at an optimized weight ratio (1:1) [12]. We poured 40 mg P3HT and 40 mg

ICBA into 2 ml DCB and the mixture was stirred for 12 h at 70 ℃ in glove box (GB).

Device fabrication

To fabricate different organic IPV devices (Fig. 1), we first cleaned the ITO coated glasses via a

standard cleaning procedure. Following this, the substrates were dried with nitrogen gas (using a

blowing gun). We then treated the substrates with oxygen (O2)-plasma, for 15 min, and

subsequently moved them within a GB ultra-pure nitrogen gas. Next, we coated PSS doped

PANI onto the O2-plasma-treated ITO coated glass substrate by spin coating at 3000 rpm for 45

s. We then annealed the HEL at 100 °C for 15 min on a hotplate in GB. The active material

(filtrated using a0.2 μm PTFE filter) was then spun coated onto the HEL coated substrate at 800

rpm for 30 s and annealed at 150 °C for 10 min in the GB. We controlled the thickness of the

P3HT:ICBA layer at ~180 nm, as it had previously been observed that this organic PV cell

thickness allowed the most efficient harvesting of indoor light energy [12]. After that, we

deposited an ultra-thin calcium layer of thickness ~25 nm onto the active layer of each device,

through thermal evaporation techniques. Finally, we formed a ~150 nm cathode layer by

depositing aluminum onto the calcium layer via a thermal evaporation technique. For thermal

evaporation, we used a vacuum thermal evaporation system which was purchased from Daedong

High Tech Corporation. During deposition, the pressure and deposition rate were fixed at∼6 μPa

and 0.1-0.2 nm/s, respectively.

Materials characterization

The synthesis of PP 1, PP 2, PP 3, PP 4, and PP 5 was confirmed by the observation of their

Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectra (4000 cm-1–400 cm-1), recorded using an FTIR
spectrometer (Perkin Elmer). The scan resolution was fixed at 4 cm-1.The transmittance value of

different films (formed by PP 1, PP 2, PP 3, PP 4, and PP 5), within the wavelength range 300

nm – 800 nm, was recorded using a Shimadzu UV-Vis spectrophotometer (model number: UV-

2401PC, TCC-240A). The work function value of those films was estimated using a Kelvin

probe provided by Besocke Delt Phi.

Device characterization

In this work, we used an Alpha-Step profilometer to measure the thickness of different layers of

the PV devices and an optical microscope to estimate the active area of deferent PV devices. The

variation in current density (J) with voltage (V), within different PV devices, was monitored

using a Keithley 2401 source meter. We tested our fabricated PV cells under a solar simulator

(Xe55 AM 1.5 G), using a 500 lx white LED (McScience) lamp, with a170 μW/cm2 irradiance

power intensity, as an illuminating agent. To control the irradiance intensity of the LED lamp we

used aSD-1000 voltage regulator. We chose the LED lamp as a light source as the absorption

window of the active material (P3HT:ICBA) of our PV devices was well-matched with the

wavelength range of the irradiance spectra of the light source (Fig. 2). The wavelength-

dependent external quantum efficiency (EQE) values of different IPV devices were recorded

with an ORIEL IQE 200 incident-photon-to-current efficiency (IPCE) measurement unit.

Results and Discussion

After the synthesis of materials we measured pH value of them. Fig. 3a is representing the pH

values of stable water dispersion of different samples after the end of their preparation. Where, it

can be observed that the pH value of the PANI:PSS is decreasing with the increment of PSS

concentration within it. Moreover the pH values of all the samples within 2.3 – 1.8 implies that
the protonation of PANI:PSS was done by sulfonate groups. Thereafter, we recorded the FTIR

spectra of each sample. Fig. 3b represents the FTIR spectra of the samples PP 1, PP 2, PP 3, PP

4, and PP 5. It can be observed that all the spectra have two sharp peaks at~1560 cm-1(stretching

of quinoid rings) and ~1485 cm-1(stretching of benzenoid rings) [30]. This confirms the presence

of PANI within all the samples. This confirms the presence of PSS within all the samples.

Furthermore, each spectrum has distinct peaks at ~677 cm-1, ~1010 cm-1, ~1035 cm-1, ~1128 cm-
1
, and ~1180 cm-1. Among them, 677 cm-1 is due to the stretching of C-S bond of benzene rings

and the peak around ~1010 cm-1 is due to the in-plane bending vibration of benzene rings. On the

other hand the peaks at ~1035 cm-1, ~1128 cm-1 are due to symmetric-stretching vibration of the

sulfonic group and in-plane skeleton vibration of the benzene ring respectively. Lastly, the sharp

peak at ~1180 cm-1 represents the asymmetric stretching vibration of SO3- group [28, 31]. To

check the effect of doping (PSS) concentration on the molecular structure of PANI we further

analyzed the FTIR spectra of different samples. For this purpose we estimated the ratios of area

associated with quinoid (1560 cm-1) to benzenoid (1485 cm-1) peaks (AQ/AB) for each spectrum

by the Gaussian fitting (within the wave number range 1650 to 1400 cm-1) of the corresponding

peaks (Fig. S1). Fig. 3c represents the variation of the (AQ/AB) value of PANI for different

amount PSS. Here it is worthy to note that (AQ/AB) value PSS doped PANI is gradually

increasing with the increase of the amount of PSS within it. At emeraldine base state (insulating),

PANI consists equal number of amine (–NH–) and imine (=N–) sites [32-33]. During the doping

imine sites are protonated and form polaron lattice [33]. In general, the increase in the value of

(AQ/AB) in doped PANI indicates the increase in the percentage of imine units. So, this result

confirms that, the increase of doping (PSS) concentration within PANI:PSS helps to increase the

polaronic lattice density of PANI:PSS through the enhancement of protonation [33]. We then
measured the transmittance value of films formed by PP 1, PP 2, PP 3, PP 4, and PP 5, within the

wavelength range 300 nm- 800 nm, illustrated in Fig. 3d. It can be observed that each film has a

very high average transmittance value (above 90%) (Fig. 4a) within the absorption window of

the active material (P3HT:ICBA) of PV devices. It is well established fact that the surface

properties of each layer of a PV cell play an important role in its operation. Thus, we had

recorded the work function of the films formed by PP 1, PP 2, PP 3, PP 4, and PP 5. Fig. 4a

illustrates the variation in work function with the doping concentration of the PANI. Notably, the

estimated values of the work function of the samples are within 5.1 eV to 5.2 eV; this is very

appropriate for utilizing them as the HEL of an organic IPV device. Fig. 4b illustrates the

distribution of energy levels of different layers of PV devices. The energy levels of donor and

acceptor and the work function of electrodes were obtained from previous literature [34-35]. The

work function of the HEL was measured using a Kelvin probe. Notably, the energy of the highest

occupied molecular level (HOMO) of the donor (P3HT) was ~5.2 eV. Furthermore, energy

values of the HOMO level of different HELs (PP 1, PP 2, PP 3, PP 4, and PP 5) lie between 5.10

eV – 5.20 eV. This suggests that the energy gap between the HOMO level of the HEL and the

donor material is very low, which can be very good for the extraction of holes from the active

layer to the anode of the PV cell. Fig. 5 illustrates the SEM images of different films formed by

PP 1, PP 2, PP 3, PP 4, and PP 5. Notably, the surface morphology of the HELs (PANI) of the

PV devices is not highly dependent on their doping (PSS) concentration. The surface roughness

of all the films is the same. As the main objective of our work was to optimize the doping

concentration of the HEL of IPVs to achieve a higher efficiency level, we then tested all the

devices under the illumination of the 500 lx LED lamp. For comparison, we also tested these

devices under the 1-Sun condition. Fig. 6 illustrates the variation in current density (J) with the
voltage (V) of various PV devices operating under the illumination of the 500 lx LED lamp and

1-Sun condition. The characteristics (averaged over 5 devices) of different PV cells (operated

under the 500 lx LED lamp) are summarized in Table 1.We estimated the power conversion

efficiency value of each device by employing Eqn. 1.

(Eqn.1),

Where MPD is the maximum output power density, Pin is irradiance power intensity of the

illuminating agent, VOC is the voltage at the open-circuit condition of the device, JCS is the

current density at the short circuit condition of the device, and FF is the fill factor of the device.

To compare the performance levels of different IPV devices, we plotted the average value of

estimated photon-to-current efficiency (PCE) of different devices, illustrated in Fig. 7. It can be

observed that the indoor light energy harvesting ability of the IPV devices significantly depended

on the concentration of the doping reagent (PSS) within its HEL. Initially, the PCE value of the

device is increasing with the increment in the doping concentration of its HEL; however, after a

certain limit (100 mg (PP2)), it is decreasing. Furthermore, In Fig. 7, it can be observed that the

IPV devices harvest energy from sunlight less efficiently than from low-intensity artificial indoor

light (500 lx LED lamp) and the variation in their PCE values for the 1-Sun condition is the same

as for the indoor light condition. The lower PCE value of our fabricated organic IPV cell under

the 1-Sun condition is due to the narrow absorption band of the active layers of all the devices

(Fig. 2). In contrast, from Fig. 8a, it can be observed that the variation in the JSC value of the IPV

devices with the doping concentration of their HEL is the same as the variation in their PCE

values. We have already mentioned that during the experiment the parameters of all the IPV

devices, other than the doping concentration of their HEL, were kept fixed. Therefore, it can be
expected that variation in the light energy harvesting ability of these devices is mainly due to

changes in the doping concentration of their HELs. To determine the impact of the change in

doping levels on the physical properties of the HELs, we measured the electrical conductivity of

different films formed by PP 1, PP 2, PP 3, PP 4, and PP 5, illustrated in Fig. 8a. It is worth

noting that the conductivity of the HEL (PANI) is low when its doping (PSS) concentration is

low and the value gradually raises with the increase in its doping level, up to a certain limit (100

mg (PP2)). It subsequently decreases with the further increment in its doping concentration. This

may be due to the use of organic polymeric acid PSS as a doping reagent. This stems from the

two contrasting effects of PSS on the charge transport mechanism of PANI. Firstly, PSS can

increase the charge transportability of a conjugated polymer through protonation. Secondly, high

concentrations of PSS within PANI may hinder the charge transport mechanism within the

polymer matrix due to its insulating nature [22]. The combination of these two effects is the main

factor responsible for variation in the conductivity value of the HELs (PANI) with their doping

(PSS) concentration. Therefore, it can be considered that enhancement of the hole extraction

efficiency of the HEL (PANI) through optimization of the doping concentration (PSS = 100 mg),

is one of the main reasons behind the improvement in light energy harvesting ability (average

PCE = 8.1%) of our organic IPV devices. Fig. 8b is representing the corresponding EQE spectra

of different PV devices. Here, it can be observed that the IPV device constructed with PP 2 as

HEL have higher EQE value within the wavelength range 300 nm to 800 nm and the other

devices are following the same trend of variation with the doping concentration of their HEL as

the variation trend of their PCE values. Furthermore we calculated the short circuit current

density (JSC, cal) values (Table 1) from their EQE values. In table 1 it can be observed that, the

variation trend of JSC, cal values of different PV devices with the doping concentration of their
HEL is same as the trend of variation of experimentally estimated JSC values of them. To

determine the impact of defects on the surface of the HEL of the IPV, we estimated shunt

resistance (RSH) values for all the IPVs (with the help of single diode model (Fig. 9)); the RSH

value plays a very important role during the operation of a PV cell under the illumination of a

low-intensity light. Due to the presence of any significant defects, the value of RSH can be

decreased, which results in the formation of an unnecessary alternating current path within the

device. This can significantly reduce the PCE value of the device. In a single diode model, the

current through a PV device is [36]:

(Eqn.2),

Here, IL is the photon generated current, IS the saturation current, RS is the series resistance, V is

voltage, kB is the Boltzmann constant, n is the diode identity factor, and T is the temperature of

the PV cell. Using eqn. 2 we analyzed the current-voltage characteristics curve of different IPV

devices and estimated their RSH values (Table 1). From Table 1, it can be observed that all

devices have a very high RSH value and consequently have higher VOC and FF values. This result

indicates that the variation in doping concentration of the HEL of different IPV devices has no

significant effect on their surface morphology; the variation of surface roughness of the HEL

may result in lowering the RSH value of the IPV device. This is further supported by the

observation of SEM micrograms of different films formed by PP 1, PP 2, PP 3, PP 4, and PP 5. It

can thus be concluded that the variation in doping concentration of the HEL of the organic IPV

cell predominantly affects the conductivity value of the HEL, which further determined the JSC

value and thus the PCE value of the device. At optimum doping concentrations, the HEL can
exhibit more efficient hole extraction, which results in a higher PCE value (8.1 %) of the organic

IPV.

Conclusion

In this work, we synthesized water-stable PANI with different doping (PSS) concentrations. We

then confirmed the presence of PANI and PSS within our synthesized materials through

observation of the FTIR spectra. Interestingly, the materials exhibited very high (above 90%)

transmittance values. It was observed that the work function values of different films formed by

these materials are within 5.1 eV to 5.2 eV. Furthermore, it had been observed that the HELs had

a very similar surface morphology. We subsequently fabricated different organic IPV devices

with P3HT:ICBA as the active material and PANI (doped with different amounts of PSS) as the

HEL. The devices were then tested under the illumination of a 500 lx white LED light and for

comparison purposes, we also tested the devices under the 1-Sun condition. It was observed that

the light energy harvesting ability of the organic IPV device was significantly dependent on the

doping level (PSS) of its HEL (PANI) because the electrical conductivity of the HEL (PANI)

was strongly dependent on its doping (PSS) level. Furthermore, we achieved higher PCE (8.1%)

values for an organic IPV device (constructed with P3HT:ICBA as the active material and a PSS

doped HEL) operating under the illumination of a 500 lx LED lamp; this was done through the

optimization of the doping concentration of its HEL(100 mg).

Acknowledgments

Korea Electric Power Corporation supported our research (Grant number: R19XO01-05). Our

research was also supported by the Basic Science Research Program through the NRF funded by

the Ministry of Education (NRF-2018R1D1A1B07043759).

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Tables

Table 1 Summary of performance parameters of different organic IPVs operating under 500 lx white
LED lights.

HEL Pin VOC JSC JSC, FF (%) PCE (%) RSH×A(Ω× cm2) MPD
(µW/ (mV) (µA/cm2 cal(µA/c (µW/cm2
cm2) ) m2) )
PP 1 680±7.0 32.8±1.1 29.13 59.5 ±2.5 7.9±0.3 1.1×105±3.1×104 13.4±1.2

PP 2 672±2.3 36.3±0.9 32.87 56.6 ± 0.6 8.1±0.1 1.2×105±4.3×103 13.8±1.0

170
PP 3 680±2.1 28.4±1.1 26.25 63.3 ± 0.5 7.3±0.4 1.6×105±6.8×103 12.4±0.6

PP 4 679±2.0 25.6±0.3 25.63 64.2 ± 0.5 6.6±0.0 1.6×105±1.2×103 11.2±0.1

PP 5 672±5.0 23.3±4.5 23.38 59.1 ± 4.0 5.2±1.0 1.1×105±3.2×104 8.9±1.7

*The average was calculated from the measurements for five devices. The device area was ~0.1
cm2.
Figures:

Figure 1: Schematic diagram of OPV device.

Figure 2: Variation of irradiance power intensity of 500 lx LED lamp and absorbance of

P3HT:ICBA with wavelength.

Figure 3: (a) pH value; (b) FTIR spectra; (c) AQ/AB; and (d) Transmittance spectra of PP 1, PP 2,

PP 3, PP 4, and PP 5.
Figure 4: ((a) Variation of average transmittance value and work function of different formed by

PP 1, PP 2, PP 3, PP 4, and PP 5; (b) Schematic representation of energy levels of different

layers of the organic IPV cell.

Figure 5: SEM images of different HEL.
Figure 6: Current density (J) - voltage (V) characteristics curves of different organic IPV devices

operating under (a) 500 lx white LED bulb and (b) 1-Sun condition.
Figure 7: Change of PCE value of IPV devices (operating under 500 lx white LED and 1-Sun

condition) with the doping concentration of their HEL.

Figure 8: (a)Variation of JSC value (operating under the illumination of 500 lx white LED) and

HEL conductivity of different organic IPV with the doping concentration of their HEL; (b) EQE

spectra of different IPV devices within the frequency range 300 nm – 800 nm.
Figure 9: Circuital representation of single diode model.
 Supporting Information

Efficiency improvement of indoor organic solar

cell by optimization of the doping level of the

hole extraction layer

Swarup Biswas1†, Young-Jun You2†, Yongju Lee1, Jae Won Shim3*, Hyeok Kim1*
1
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Institute of Information Technology, University of Seoul,

163 Seoulsiripdaero, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul 02504, Republic of Korea

2
Division of Electronics and Electrical Engineering, Dongguk University, Seoul 04620, Republic of

Korea
3
School of Electrical Engineering, Korea University, 145 Anam-ro, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul 02841,

Republic of Korea

*Corresponding Authors.
Tel.: 82-2-3290-3224 fax: 82-2-921-0544. E-mail address: jwshim19@korea.ac.kr (J.W. Shim)
Tel.: 82-2-6490-2354 fax: 82-2-6490-2314. E-mail address: hyeok.kim@uos.ac.kr (H. Kim)
†
Swarup Biswas and Young-Jun You contributed equally to this work.
Fig. S1 Gaussian fit of the FT-IR spectrum of PP 1, PP 2, PP 3, PP 4, and PP 5 within the

wave number range 1650 to 1400 cm-1.

Highlights

Water stable polystyrene sulfonic acid doped polyaniline is synthesized.

The doping concentration of polyaniline is varied to control its physiochemical properties.

Those materials are used as hole extraction layer (HEL) of organic indoor photovoltaic

(IPV) device.

The power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the IPV devices exhibit strong dependency on the

doping concentration of their HEL.

At optimized doping concentration of HEL, the IPV device shows higher PCE value (8.1

%).
Credit Author Statement:
Conceptualization of this work was performed by Swarup Biswas, Young-Jun You, Yongju Lee,

Jae Won Shim, and Hyeok Kim. Experiments were conducted by Swarup Biswas, Young-Jun

You, and Yongju Lee. Data curation was performed by Swarup Biswas, Young-Jun You, and

Yongju Lee. Formal analysis was performed by Young-Jun You and Swarup Biswas. The results

were analyzed by Swarup Biswas, Young-Jun You, Yongju Lee, Jae Won Shim, and Hyeok Kim.

The methodology was devised by Swarup Biswas. Hyeok Kim and Jae Won Shim were in charge

of the project administration. This work was carried out under the supervision of Hyeok Kim and

Jae Won Shim. All the authors contributed their knowledge to the discussion and validated the

manuscript.
Declaration of interests

☒ The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships
that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

☐The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered
as potential competing interests: