title: Atmospheric and Aqueous Deposition of Polycrystalline Metal Oxides Using Mist-CVD for Highly Efficient Inverted Polymer Solar Cells.
abstract: Large scale, cost-effective processing of metal oxide thin films is critical for the fabrication of many novel thin film electronics. To date, however, most of the reported solution-based techniques require either extended thermal anneals or additional synthetic steps. Here we report mist chemical vapor deposition as a solution-based, readily scalable, and open-air method to produce high-quality polycrystalline metal oxide thin films. Continuous, smooth, and conformal deposition of metal oxide thin films is achieved by tuning the solvent chemistry of Leidenfrost droplets to promote finer control over the surface-local dissociation process of the atomized zinc-bearing precursors. We demonstrate the deposited ZnO as highly efficient electron transport layers for inverted polymer solar cells to show the power of the approach. A highest efficiency of 8.7% is achieved with a fill factor of 73%, comparable to that of conventional so-gel ZnO, which serves as an indication of the efficient vertical transport and electron collection achievable using this material.
authors.forename: Xiaodan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: §Institute for Nanotechnology, Kochi University of Technology, Kami, Kochi 782-8502, Japan.
authors.forename: Toshiyuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kawaharamura
authors.affiliation: ∥California NanoSystems Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, United States.|⊥WPI Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics, National Institute for Materials Science, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0044, Japan.
authors.forename: Adam Z
authors.initials: AZ
authors.lastname: Stieg
authors.forename: Chandan
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Biswas
authors.affiliation: #Research Institute for New Materials Technology, Co-Innovation Center for Micro/Nano Optoelectronic Materials and Devices, Chongqing University of Arts and Sciences, Chongqing, Sichuan 402160, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Lu
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Zhu
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: ∇KACST-UCLA Center of Excellence on NanoScience and Engineering for Green and Clean Technologies, Los Angeles, California 90095, United States.
authors.forename: Mark A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Zurbuchen
authors.forename: Qibing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Pei
authors.affiliation: ∇KACST-UCLA Center of Excellence on NanoScience and Engineering for Green and Clean Technologies, Los Angeles, California 90095, United States.
authors.forename: Kang L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Wang
keywords: Mist chemical vapor deposition; inverted polymer solar cells; transparent electron transport layer; zinc oxide