title: Photonic Flash Sintering of Ink-Jet-Printed Back Electrodes for Organic Photovoltaic Applications.
abstract: A study of the photonic flash sintering of a silver nanoparticle ink printed as the back electrode for organic solar cells is presented. A number of sintering settings with different intensities and pulse durations have been tested on both full-area and grid-based silver electrodes, using the complete emission spectrum of the flash lamps from UV-A to NIR. However, none of these settings was able to produce functional devices with performances comparable to those of reference cells prepared using thermally sintered ink. Different degradation mechanisms were detected in the devices with a flash-sintered back electrode. The P3HT:PCBM photoactive layer appears to be highly heat-sensitive and turned out to be severely damaged by the high temperatures generated in the silver layer during the sintering. In addition, UV-induced photochemical degradation of the functional materials was identified as another possible source of performance deterioration in the devices with grid-based electrodes. Reducing the light intensity does not provide a proper solution because in this case the Ag electrode is not sintered sufficiently. For both types of devices, with full-area and grid-based electrodes, these problems could be solved by excluding the short wavelength contribution from the flash light spectrum using a filter. Optimized sintering parameters allowed manufacture of OPV devices with performance equal to those of the reference devices. Photonic flash sintering of the top electrode in organic solar cells was demonstrated for the first time. It reveals the great potential of this sintering method for the future roll-to-roll manufacturing of organic solar cells from solution.
authors.affiliation: Holst Centre , High Tech Campus 31, 5656AE Eindhoven, The Netherlands.|CHOSE (Centre for Hybrid and Organic Solar Energy), Department of Electronic Engineering, University of Rome Tor Vergata , via del Politecnico 1, 00133 Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Giuseppina
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Polino
authors.affiliation: Holst Centre - Solliance , High Tech Campus 21, 5656AE Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Santhosh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shanmugam
authors.affiliation: Holst Centre , High Tech Campus 31, 5656AE Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Guy J P
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Bex
authors.affiliation: Holst Centre , High Tech Campus 31, 5656AE Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Abbel
authors.affiliation: CHOSE (Centre for Hybrid and Organic Solar Energy), Department of Electronic Engineering, University of Rome Tor Vergata , via del Politecnico 1, 00133 Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Brunetti
authors.affiliation: CHOSE (Centre for Hybrid and Organic Solar Energy), Department of Electronic Engineering, University of Rome Tor Vergata , via del Politecnico 1, 00133 Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Aldo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Di Carlo
authors.affiliation: Holst Centre - Solliance , High Tech Campus 21, 5656AE Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Ronn
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Andriessen
authors.affiliation: Holst Centre - Solliance , High Tech Campus 21, 5656AE Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Yulia
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Galagan
keywords: ink-jet printing; interfaces; inverted structure; photonic flash sintering; polymer solar cells