Improved efficiency of hybrid organic photovoltaics by pulsed laser sintering of silver nanowire network transparent electrode.
In this Research Article, we demonstrate pulsed laser processing of a silver nanowire network transparent conductor on top of an otherwise complete solar cell. The macroscopic pulsed laser irradiation serves to sinter nanowire-nanowire junctions on the nanoscale, leading to a much more conductive electrode. We fabricate hybrid silicon/organic heterojunction photovoltaic devices, which have ITO-free, solution processed, and laser processed transparent electrodes. Furthermore, devices which have high resistive losses show up to a 35% increase in power conversion efficiency after laser processing. We perform this study over a range of laser fluences, and a range of nanowire area coverage to investigate the sintering mechanism of nanowires inside of a device stack. The increase in device performance is modeled using a simple photovoltaic diode approach and compares favorably to the experimental data.
Joshua A
JA
Spechler
‡Department of Electrical Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey United States.
Ken A
KA
Nagamatsu
‡Department of Electrical Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey United States.
James C
JC
Sturm
Craig B
CB
Arnold
direct laser sintering; inorganic−organic heterojunction solar cell; nanowire network; solution processing; transparent electrode