Optimization of hierarchical structure and nanoscale-enabled plasmonic refraction for window electrodes in photovoltaics

Han, Bing; Peng, Qiang; Li, Ruopeng; Qiu, Rong; Ding, Yang; Akinoglu, Eser Metin; Wu, Xueyuan; Wang, Xin; Lu, Xubing; Wang, Qianming; Zhou, Guofu; Liu, Junming; Z, Ren; Giersig, Michael; Herczyński, Andrzej; Kempa, Krzysztof; Gao, Jinwei

doi:10.1038/ncomms12825

Cited by 50 publications

(63 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…Materials with simultaneous high electrical conductivity and high optical transmittance are essential for numerous optoelectronic devices and applications, such as flat panel displays (TVs and computer monitors), touch screen displays (smart phones and tablets), thin film (e.g., perovskite) solar cells, organic light‐emitting diode (OLED), electrochromic displays, and electromagnetic shielding . The predominant material used for such a transparent conductor or transparent conducting electrode (TCE) is tin‐doped indium oxide (ITO).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

All‐Solution‐Processed, Scalable, Self‐Cracking Ag Network Transparent Conductor

Yang¹,

Merlo²,

Kong³

et al. 2017

Physica Status Solidi (a)

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A scalable and a fully solution-based method is developed to produce environmentally stable Ag micro/nanowire networks for transparent conductors. By applying a self-cracking, water-soluble acrylate copolymer film as a photoresist mask, the need for formal photomask fabrication and costly vacuum and lithographic facilities is obviated. Also, an increase in adhesion and a decrease in roughness of the metal networks is demonstrated by depositing metal into the regions created by the glass etch step. As a result, the networks can potentially be inexpensively scaled to large areas, as well as be flexible after removal from the substrate. They also exhibit record values of figures of merit that have been employed in the literature, offering a possibly excellent replacement for ITO.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

All‐Solution‐Processed, Scalable, Self‐Cracking Ag Network Transparent Conductor

Yang¹,

Merlo²,

Kong³

et al. 2017

Physica Status Solidi (a)

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“…Many potential ITO replacements have been proposed and tested. These include conductive polymers, carbon materials (graphene and carbon nanotubes), metal nanowires, and metallic networks . Among those, metallic networks with their good optoelectronic properties and excellent mechanical flexibility are the most promising.…”

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confidence: 99%

Bioinspired High‐Adhesion Metallic Networks as Flexible Transparent Conductors

Dong

Liu

Pan

et al. 2019

Adv Materials Technologies

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ITO replacements have been proposed and tested. These include conductive poly mers, [6,7] carbon materials (graphene [8,9] and carbon nanotubes [10,11] ), metal nano wires, [12][13][14] and metallic networks. [15][16][17][18] Among those, metallic networks with their good optoelectronic properties and excellent mechanical flexibility are the most promising.Previously, some of the coauthors of this work have developed metallic net works based on the cracking technology. [15,18,19] This technology employs thin films of a sacrificial material (deposited on a substrate), which cracks while drying. After metal deposition and liftoff of the sacrificial material, a continuous network of metallic nano/micro ribbons forms directly on the substrate. This technology produces excellent TCEs on solid substrates, outperforming ITO. While this technology is compatible with flexible substrates, adhesion remains a problem due to addi tional stresses experienced during substrate flexing. There are two failure mechanisms due to flexing: metal film fracture and delamination from the substrate. Fracture has been thor oughly studied in the context of tensile strain and bending etc. [15,18] Recent strategies to improve the nanowire networksubstrate adhesion include mechanical pressing, [20] plasmonic laser nanowelding, [21] nanosoldering, [22] additional solvent treat ment, [23] polymer encapsulation, and TiO 2 gel coverage. [24,25] These harsh processes cause typically some damage to the net work, and therefore, strategies for simultaneous improvement of adhesion while maintaining device performance remain a challenge. Recently, metallic films with nanopile interlocking have been fabricated, and have some potential to resolve this problem. [26] Here, we developed a highadhesion (HA) flexible TCE, based on a metallic crack network combined with the bamboo root idea. This HA network shows excellent optoelec tronic properties, combined with superb adhesion to flexible substrates. Figure 1a shows the rhizome structures on the bamboo roots, which through a characteristic root interlocking, provides exceptional mechanical support and stability for the bamboo plant. Figure 1b shows schematic of our highadhesion net work, with the dendritic nanowires resembling the rhizome structures (see the zoomin panel in Figure 1a). Figure 1c illus trates steps of our fabrication process, which begins with the spin coating of a polyimide (PI) layer on a silicon wafer (Step 1). After solidification of PI, a sacrificial crack mask (nail polish) is spin coated on the PI surface, and subsequently selfcracked during drying (Step 2). The cracking pattern is then copied onto PI film by using plasma etching (Step 3). The electroplating While metallic networks, proposed recently as a replacement for transparent conducting oxides, show superior optoelectronic performance and mechani cal flexibility, their adhesion to flexible substrates remains a problem. In this work, a high adhesion metallic network inspired by the ground-gripping functionality of bamboo roots is...

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“…Modern optoelectronic devices, such as light emitting diode (LED) ‐ based light sources, solar cells, smart windows, displays, electronic paper devices, etc., require window electrodes, which are simultaneously highly transparent and highly electrically conductive. In addition, all the display applications need those electrodes to be optically uniform and dense, as well as have low optical haze . Currently, the “work horse” of the industry is indium tin oxide (ITO), a brittle but chemically stable and continuous transparent conductor, with good electro‐optic performance .…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

A Practical ITO Replacement Strategy: Sputtering‐Free Processing of a Metallic Nanonetwork

Xian

Han

et al. 2017

Adv Materials Technologies

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Metallic network, an important indium tin oxide (ITO) replacement, is extensively studied due to its advantages in optoelectronic properties and mechanical flexibility. Vacuum sputtering/evaporation‐free processing is an essential step for roll‐to‐roll production of low‐cost and large‐size metallic network transparent electrodes. In this paper, a high performance metallic crack‐nanonetwork (CNN) is demonstrated by employing a sputtering/evaporation‐free process, which combines advantages of the standard CNN processing with electroless plating, enabled by unique properties of the commercial amorphous fluoropolymer CYTOP. This network shows outstanding optoelectronic performance, with the best figure of merit ≈ 20000 (at T ≈ 86.4% and Rs ≈ 0.13 Ω sq−1), as well as excellent mechanical flexibility and stability. This network outperforms the current industry standard, ITO, in performance and cost, as a result of the elimination of the sputtering/evaporation step. This is therefore a dramatic step toward replacing ITO with a metallic cracking nanonetwork.

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Optimization of hierarchical structure and nanoscale-enabled plasmonic refraction for window electrodes in photovoltaics

Cited by 50 publications

References 31 publications

All‐Solution‐Processed, Scalable, Self‐Cracking Ag Network Transparent Conductor

All‐Solution‐Processed, Scalable, Self‐Cracking Ag Network Transparent Conductor

Bioinspired High‐Adhesion Metallic Networks as Flexible Transparent Conductors

A Practical ITO Replacement Strategy: Sputtering‐Free Processing of a Metallic Nanonetwork

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