Hybrid organic PV devices with nanowire electrodes get more efficient when lasered (2015)

Improved Efficiency of Hybrid Organic Photovoltaics by Pulsed Laser Sintering of Silver Nanowire Network Transparent Electrode

Published in ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces 2015

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.