High Performance Transparent Silver Grid Electrodes for Organic Photovoltaics Fabricated by Selective Metal Condensation

Abstract

Silver grid electrodes on glass and flexible plastic substrates with performance that exceeds that of commercial indium‐tin oxide (ITO) coated glass are reported and show their suitability as a drop‐in replacement for ITO glass in solution‐processed organic photovoltaics (OPVs). When supported on flexible plastic substrates these electrodes are stable toward repeated bending through a small radius of curvature over tens of thousands of cycles. The grid electrodes are fabricated by the unconventional approach of condensation coefficient modulation using a perfluorinated polymer shown to be far superior to the other compounds used for this purpose to date. The very narrow line width and small grid pitch that can be achieved also open the door to the possibility of using grid electrodes in OPVs without a conducting poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene‐poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT: PSS) layer to span the gaps between grid lines.

Integration of Metal Meshes as Transparent Conducting Electrodes into Perovskite Solar Cells

“…[18] However, integrating metal meshes into PSCs introduces specific challenges that hamper their development in comparison to other well-established PV technologies where metal mesh integration has been successful. [19,20] For example, the propensity of the halides in perovskites to penetrate thin interface layers can lead to reactions with the metal meshes, causing severe degradation in the active layer and compromising device stability. [17,21,22] To address this issue, protective layers are often introduced to prevent ion migration within the devices and maintain their performance.…”

“…Additionally, their performance falls short of that achieved with glass‐based ITO films, primarily due to the constraints on annealing temperatures imposed by the use of plastic substrates. [ 19 ] This presents the need for efficient alternative solutions, and metal meshes find a suitable ground in this regard. Several works have explored the possibility of embedding metal meshes into a PET substrate employing a UV curable resin.…”