Abstract
In this study, chemical treatment (CT; oxidation–reduction method) and physical treatment (HP; hot-pressing methods) were applied to improve the performance of silver nanowire (AgNW)-derived electrodes on a glass or flexible polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate. The four-point probe method, UV-Vis spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to measure the properties of AgNW electrodes and compare them with those of indium tin oxide (ITO) electrodes for exploring the possibility of using CT- and HP-based AgNW electrodes for polymer solar cell (PSC) applications. Using the CT or HP method, the sheet resistance of electrodes decreased to lower than 40 Ω sq−1 with an average high transmittance of more than 80%. Furthermore, HP reduced the surface roughness of AgNWs, which solved the inter-electrode short circuiting problem for devices. We studied the performance of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-poly(styrene sulfonate) and zinc oxide-based PSC devices. The power conversion efficiency of HP-AgNW-derived poly[4,8-bis(5-(2-ethylhexyl)thiophen-2-yl)benzo[1,2-b;4,5-b′]dithiophene-2,6-diyl-alt-(4-(2-ethylhexyl)-3-fluorothieno[3,4-b]thiophene-)-2-carboxylate-2-6-diyl] (PTB7-Th):[6,6]-phenyl-C71-butyric acid methyl ester (PC71BM) devices was 7.83%, which was slightly lower than the performance of the device using ITO (8.03%) as a substrate. After a bend test (100 times) at a 2-cm curvature radius, the efficiency of AgNW/PET-derived PSCs was more than 70%. The performance of PSCs made with AgNWs and ITO electrodes is comparable, but the cost of using AgNWs for electrodes is much lower; therefore, HP-derived AgNWs demonstrate great potential for optoelectronic applications.
Highlights
Most studies on organic polymer solar cells (PSCs) have primarily focused on large-area processes at low costs and temperatures and explored electrodes that are more conductive than indium tin oxide (ITO) [1,2,3]
Because the values of the Rs and transmittance were trade-offs, we evaluated the effects of the chemical treatment (CT) and HP treatments on the optoelectronic properties of electrodes and compared them with the normal AgNW electrode
The results demonstrate that the optical transmittance of both AgNW films was not treated at different HP temperatures
Summary
Most studies on organic polymer solar cells (PSCs) have primarily focused on large-area processes at low costs and temperatures and explored electrodes that are more conductive than indium tin oxide (ITO) [1,2,3]. Khaligh and Goldthorpe used a roller hot press machine to prepare PET/AgNW electrodes at a low temperature of 80 ◦ C This low temperature process successfully reduced the roughness of Ag wires and did not affect sheet resistance and transparency [16]. The experimental results showed that the AgNW network was successfully pressed to a thickness of one wire diameter to achieve a sheet resistance of 8.6 Ω sq−1 , and the performance of the solar cell was higher than that on an ITO electrode [17]. AgNW-based electrodes are subjected to high levels of roughness (more than dozens of nanometers), which limits the performance, stability and reproductivity of derived optoelectronic devices Overcoming this problem and fabricating an AgNW electrode with high transparency and conductivity have been the topics of research. We adopted both chemical treatment (CT; oxidation–reduction method) and physical treatment (HP; hot-pressing methods) to modify AgNW electrodes and evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of HP-and CT-based electrodes for PSC application
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