Inkjet-printing of hybrid transparent conducting electrodes for organic solar cells

Abstract

Phone: þ85 63 219 5338We developed metal-grid hybrid transparent conducting electrodes (TCEs) by combining a metal grid with a conducting polymer. Metal-grid hybrid TCEs were prepared by inkjetprinting with both PEDOT:PSS and Ag nanoparticle inks and applied to the fabrication of organic solar cells (OSCs) instead of indium tin oxide (ITO). The electrical and optical properties of the metal-grid hybrid TCEs were optimized by modulating the Ag grid's line-to-line spacing (pitch). With a Ag-grid pitch of 1 mm, the metal-grid hybrid TCEs exhibited a sheet resistance of 10.3 V sq À1 and an optical transmittance of 73% which represented 10% reduction when compared to the optical transmittance of inkjet-printed PEDOT:PSS films without Ag grids. Ag covering factor (ACF) was defined using the geometry of the Ag-grid and incorporated in a theoretical model to calculate the electrical and optical properties of the inkjet-printed metal-grid hybrid TCEs. It was found that the experimental values of the TCEs' electrical and optical properties were in good agreement with the calculation results based on the ACF-incorporated theoretical model. OSCs fabricated with the metal-grid hybrid TCEs showed a power-conversion cell efficiency comparable to those of conventional OCSs using ITO. This indicates that the inkjetprinted metal-grid hybrid TCE is a promising replacement for ITO to realize cost-effective OSCs.

Defect‐Free, Highly Uniform Washable Transparent Electrodes Induced by Selective Light Irradiation

“…The FoM of our meshes as well as the corresponding patterning resolution are summarized in Table , along with the comparison data of related mesh electrodes prepared by various solution‐based printing technologies such as inkjet printing, screen printing, and reverse‐offset printing . Through our R‐SLIP method, the resolution of ≈12 µm could be achieved, which is remarkably high as compared to other methods with the resolution of 20–160 µm.…”

Transparent Conductive Printable Meshes Based on Percolation Patterns

“…These include UV and nanoimprint lithography, 7,8 rolling mask lithography, 9 hybrid printing, 10 and direct printing. 11−13 All of them have used a regular pattern (e.g., squares 7,11,12 al., 14 where asymmetrical pentagons were developed on a poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) substrate.…”

“…Recently, several deposition techniques were exploited to fabricate mesh-based TCFs with performance exceeding ITO metrics. These include UV and nanoimprint lithography, , rolling mask lithography, hybrid printing, and direct printing. − All of them have used a regular pattern (e.g., squares ,, and hexagons − ), except a study by Lordan et al, where asymmetrical pentagons were developed on a poly­(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) substrate.…”

Highly flexible and transparent metal grids made of metal nanowire networks

“…Recently, exible TCEs have been developed using two main electrical network architectures: 'random networks' and 'regular (periodic) networks'. [25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37] Flexible TCEs with random electrical networks are mainly based on irregularly percolated networks of conductive nanomaterials, such as silver nanowires (AgNWs), [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] copper nanowires (CuNWs), [17][18][19] carbon nanotubes (CNTs), [20][21][22][23] and a hybrid of AgNWs and CNTs. 24 In these approaches, the percolated networks were easily prepared by simple solution-based coating methods, including drop-casting, 2-4 ltration, 5,6,[18][19][20][21][22][23][24] spraycoating, [7][8...…”

“…30,31 However, these methods involve a high-vacuum process, such as sputtering or evaporation of metal, which results in complex and expensive fabrication. Non-vacuum methods include jet printing [32][33][34][35][36] and selective laser sintering 37 of metallic ink. Although simple fabrication is achievable, these vacuum-free approaches may suffer from long processing time due to the direct writing nature and difficulty in precision control of the critical dimensions of MGs.…”