Transparent Conducting Nb-Doped TiO2 Electrodes Activated by Laser Annealing for Inexpensive Flexible Organic Solar Cells

A KrF excimer laser (λ= 248 nm) has been adopted for annealing cost-effective Nb-doped TiO2 (NTO) films. Sputtered NTO layers were annealed on SiO2-coated flexible poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) substrates. This local laser annealing technique is very useful for the formation of anatase NTO electrodes used in flexible organic solar cells (OSCs). An amorphous NTO film with a high resistivity and a low transparency was transformed significantly into a conductive and transparent anatase NTO electrode by laser irradiation. The 210 nm anatase NTO film shows a sheet resistance of 50 Ω and an average optical transmittance of 83.5% in the wavelength range from 450 to 600 nm after annealing at 0.25 J/cm2. The activation of Nb dopants and the formation of the anatase phase contribute to the high conductivity of the laser-annealed NTO electrode. Nb activation causes an increase in the optical band gap due to the Burstein–Moss effect. The electrical properties are in agreement with the material characteristics determined by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis and secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). The irradiation energy for the NTO electrode also affects the performance of the organic solar cell. The laser annealing technique provides good properties of the anatase NTO film used as a transparent electrode for flexible organic solar cells (OSCs) without damage to the PET substrate or layer delamination from the substrate.