High Power Conversion Efficiency of 13.61% for 1 cm² Flexible Polymer Solar Cells Based on Patternable and Mass‐Producible Gravure‐Printed Silver Nanowire Electrodes

Abstract

With the aim of developing high‐performance flexible polymer solar cells, the preparation of flexible transparent electrodes (FTEs) via a high‐throughput gravure printing process is reported. By varying the blend ratio of the mixture solvent and the concentration of the silver nanowire (AgNW) inks, the surface tension, volatilization rate, and viscosity of the AgNW ink can be tuned to meet the requirements of gravure printing process. Following this method, uniformly printed AgNW films are prepared. Highly conductive FTEs with a sheet resistance of 10.8 Ω sq−1 and a high transparency of 95.4% (excluded substrate) are achieved, which are comparable to those of indium tin oxide electrode. In comparison with the spin‐coating process, the gravure printing process exhibits advantages of the ease of large‐area fabrication and improved uniformity, which are attributed to better ink droplet distribution over the substrate. 0.04 cm2 polymer solar cells based on gravure‐printed AgNW electrodes with PM6:Y6 as the photoactive layer show the highest power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 15.28% with an average PCE of 14.75 ± 0.35%. Owing to the good uniformity of the gravure‐printed AgNW electrode, the highest PCE of 13.61% is achieved for 1 cm2 polymer solar cells based on the gravure‐printed FTEs.

Inkjet-Printed Silver Nanowire Ink for Flexible Transparent Conductive Film Applications

“…In recent years, printed electronics (PE) have been considered as an alternative to conventional silicon-based technology due to high manufacturing speed, large-area, low cost, environmental friendliness, and particularly applicable to flexible functional devices [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 ]. PE refers to the electronic product manufacturing technology that functional conductive inks are directly deposited onto substrate to form electronic component or circuit by printed process.…”

Flexible Organic Solar Cells: Progress and Challenges

“…Moreover, Ma et al presented a gravure printing technology to fabricate large‐area FTEs via semiembedding AgNWs into the low‐temperature processed colorless polyimide (cPI) (Figure 6f). [ 60 ] The prepared FTEs exhibited resistance of 10–30 Ω sq −1 with the transmittance of 88–91%. Using PM6:Y6 blend, PCEs of 15.28% and 13.61% for small‐area and large‐scale flexible OSCs (0.04 and 1 cm 2 ) were achieved, respectively.…”

“…[ 49 ] Consequently, with the continuous development of efficient photoactive materials, significant progress has been achieved for flexible OSCs in recent years. [ 21,26–28,50–64 ] As shown in Table 1 , the photovoltaic performances of representative flexible OSCs are summarized, and the molecular structures of corresponding materials are shown in Figure .…”

Recent Progress on Emerging Transparent Metallic Electrodes for Flexible Organic and Perovskite Photovoltaics

“…[ 168 ] The incorporation of 2D nanomaterials such as GO, graphene, or MXene into AgNW electrodes has enabled flexible OSCs to possess similar or higher efficiency compared with those using ITO. [ 158,190,191 ] To fulfill the requirement of scaling up, roll‐to‐roll compatible preparation methods are necessary for large‐area devices, which have been demonstrated in flexible AgNW‐based electrodes via slot‐die printing, [ 192,193 ] gravure printing, [ 194 ] and doctor‐blade coating. [ 167 ] Another line of research is the incorporation of biodegradable and ecofriendly materials into metal NW electrodes.…”