Silver and copper nanowire films as cost-effective and robust transparent electrode in energy harvesting through photovoltaic: A review

Abstract

Presently, there is a high demand for cost-effective, solution-processed technology for fabrication of thin-film solar cell to compete with the well-stabilised Si-solar cell at industrial scale. In thin-film solar cell, the active layers such as absorber and interfacial layer can be deposited by a cost-effective chemical route but the transparent electrode, which is generally ITO, is deposited using vacuum-based expensive technology. To minimize the overall fabrication cost of thin-film solar cell, in addition to absorber and interfacial layers, the deposition of solution-processed transparent electrode is also required. To replace ITO, researcher have given major efforts to apply solution-processed Ag and Cu nanowire networks as transparent electrode owing to their excellent conductivity and transmittance. In this review, we present recent advances in the application of Ag and Cu nanowire-based transparent electrode in photovoltaic. The inherent issues pertaining to application of nanowire-based transparent electrode in fabrication of organic and perovskite solar cells is addressed.