# US 9,040,817 B2 · Organic thin film solar cell > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 9,040,817 B2 - Document ID: US9040817B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 12/282,819 - Filed: 2007-03-14 - Published: 2010-01-21 - Granted: 2015-05-26 - Earliest claimed: 2006-03-20 - Assignees: Panasonic Corporation - Applicants: Jun Sakai; Tetsuya Taima; Kunio Saito; Namiko Saito - Inventors: Jun Sakai; Kazuhiro Saito; Tetsuya Taima - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US9040817B2 ## CPC - H10K 30/30: comprising bulk heterojunctions, e.g. interpenetrating networks of donor and acceptor material domains - B82Y 10/00: Nanotechnology for information processing, storage or transmission, e.g. quantum computing or single electron logic - C08G 2261/1424: containing ether groups, including alkoxy - C08G 2261/3223: containing one or more sulfur atoms as the only heteroatom, e.g. thiophene - H10K 30/50: Photovoltaic [PV] devices - H10K 85/113: {Heteroaromatic compounds comprising sulfur or selene, e.g. polythiophene} - H10K 85/211: {Fullerenes, e.g. C60} - H10K 85/311: {Phthalocyanine} - H10K 85/623: {containing five rings, e.g. pentacene} - H10K 2102/103: {comprising indium oxides, e.g. ITO} - Y02E 10/549: Organic PV cells - H10K: ORGANIC ELECTRIC SOLID-STATE DEVICES - B82Y: SPECIFIC USES OR APPLICATIONS OF NANOSTRUCTURES; MEASUREMENT OR ANALYSIS OF NANOSTRUCTURES; MANUFACTURE OR TREATMENT OF NANOSTRUCTURES - C08G: MACROMOLECULAR COMPOUNDS OBTAINED OTHERWISE THAN BY REACTIONS ONLY INVOLVING UNSATURATED CARBON-TO-CARBON BONDS - Y02E: REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS [GHG] EMISSIONS, RELATED TO ENERGY GENERATION, TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION ## Abstract The present invention provides an organic thin film solar cell having a novel photoelectric conversion layer with superior conversion efficiency from light to electricity and superior carrier transportability to an electrode. The photoelectric conversion layer is arranged between a pair of electrodes at least one of which has optical transparency, and comprises a multilayer film formed by alternately laminating an electron-donating organic semiconductor thin film and an electron-accepting thin film. The electron-donating organic semiconductor thin film is formed by organic semiconductor molecules in which cyclic compounds are bound in a linear fashion. ## Claims ### Claim 1 An organic thin film solar cell comprising: a pair of electrodes at least one of which has optical transparency; and a photoelectric conversion layer arranged between the pair of electrodes, wherein: the photoelectric conversion layer comprises a multilayer film, in which a three layer structure consisting of a first electron-donating organic semiconductor thin film, an intermediate organic semiconductor layer and a first electron-accepting thin film stacked in this order is repeatedly laminated plural times, the first electron-donating organic semiconductor thin film is composed of organic semiconductor molecules in which cyclic compounds are bound in a linear fashion, the first electron-donating organic semiconductor thin film and the first electron-accepting thin film each have a film thickness of 10 nm or less, the organic semiconductor molecules are an acene-based molecule compound represented by the following formula (1): C6+4(n−1)H6+2(n−1) (1) where n represents an integer of 2 or more, the multilayer film of the photoelectric conversion layer includes a superlattice structure, and the intermediate organic semiconductor layer consists of only one kind of an organic semiconductor. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The organic thin film solar cell according to claim 1, wherein the first electron-accepting thin film comprises fullerene or a fullerene compound. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The organic thin film solar cell according to claim 1, wherein the film thickness of the first electron-donating organic semiconductor thin film is greater than the film thickness of the first electron-accepting thin film. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The organic thin film solar cell according to claim 1, wherein the multilayer film is interposed between a second electron-donating organic semiconductor thin film having a film thickness of 10 nm or more and a second electron-accepting thin film having a film thickness of 10 nm or more. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The organic thin film solar cell according to claim 1, wherein: the intermediate organic semiconductor layer has a thickness of 1 nm to 10 nm, and the intermediate organic semiconductor layer is a third electron-donating organic semiconductor thin film having a band gap smaller than the first electron-donating organic semiconductor thin film adjacent to the intermediate organic semiconductor layer. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The organic thin film solar cell according to claim 1, wherein: the intermediate organic semiconductor layer has a thickness of 1 nm to 10 nm, and the intermediate organic semiconductor layer is a third electron-accepting organic semiconductor thin film having a band gap smaller than the first electron-accepting thin film adjacent to the intermediate organic semiconductor layer. ### Claim 7 (depends on 3) The organic thin film solar cell according to claim 3, wherein the film thickness of the first electron-donating organic semiconductor thin film is within a range of 4 times or less the film thickness of the first electron-accepting thin film. ### Claim 8 (depends on 4) The organic thin film solar cell according to claim 4, wherein the second electron-donating organic semiconductor thin film having the film thickness of 100 nm or less and the second electron-accepting thin film having the film thickness of 100 nm or less. ### Claim 9 (depends on 5) The organic thin film solar cell according to claim 5, wherein the thickness of the intermediate organic semiconductor layer is 2 to 4 nm. ### Claim 10 (depends on 6) The organic thin film solar cell according to claim 6, wherein the thickness of the intermediate organic semiconductor layer is 2 to 4 nm. ### Claim 11 An organic thin film solar cell comprising: a pair of electrodes at least one of which has optical transparency; and a photoelectric conversion layer arranged between the pair of electrodes, wherein: the photoelectric conversion layer comprises a multilayer film formed by a first electron-donating organic semiconductor thin film and a first electron-accepting thin film which are alternately stacked, the first electron-donating organic semiconductor thin film is composed of organic semiconductor molecules in which cyclic compounds are bound in a linear fashion, the first electron-donating organic semiconductor thin film and the first electron-accepting thin film each have a film thickness of 10 nm or less, the organic semiconductor molecules are an acene-based molecule compound represented by the following formula (I): C6+4(n−1)H6+2(n−1) (1) where n represents an integer of 2 or more, the multilayer film of the photoelectric conversion layer includes a superlattice structure, the multilayer film further comprises an intermediate organic semiconductor layer provided between the first electron-donating organic semiconductor thin film and the first electron-accepting thin film, the intermediate organic semiconductor layer has a thickness of 2 nm to 4 nm, the intermediate organic semiconductor layer is a third electron-donating organic semiconductor thin film having a band gap smaller than the first electron-donating organic semiconductor thin film adjacent to the intermediate organic semiconductor layer. ### Claim 12 An organic thin film solar cell comprising: a pair of electrodes at least one of which has optical transparency; and a photoelectric conversion layer arranged between the pair of electrodes, wherein: the photoelectric conversion layer comprises a multilayer film formed by a first electron-donating organic semiconductor thin film and a first electron-accepting thin film which are alternately stacked, the first electron-donating organic semiconductor thin film is composed of organic semiconductor molecules in which cyclic compounds are bound in a linear fashion, the first electron-donating organic semiconductor thin film and the first electron-accepting thin film each have a film thickness of 10 nm or less, the organic semiconductor molecules are an acene-based molecule compound represented by the following formula (I): C6+4(n−1)H6+2(n−1) (1) where n represents an integer of 2 or more, the multilayer film of the photoelectric conversion layer includes a superlattice structure, the multilayer film further comprises an intermediate organic semiconductor layer provided between the first electron-donating organic semiconductor thin film and the first electron-accepting thin film, the intermediate organic semiconductor layer has a thickness of 2 nm to 4 nm, and the intermediate organic semiconductor layer is an electron-accepting organic semiconductor thin film having a band gap smaller than the first electron-accepting thin film adjacent to the intermediate organic semiconductor layer.