Flexible organic photovoltaics based on water-processed silver nanowire electrodes
Yanna Sun, Meijia Chang, Lingxian Meng, Xiangjian Wan, Huanhuan Gao, Yamin Zhang, Kai Zhao, Zhenhe Sun, Chenxi Li, Shuiren Liu, Huike Wang, Jiajie Liang & Yongsheng Chen
Nature Electronics 2019, 2: 513–520
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-019-0315-1
A key feature of organic electronic devices is their mechanical flexibility. However, the performance of flexible organic optoelectronic devices still lags behind the performance of devices on rigid substrates. This is due, in particular, to the lack of flexible transparent electrodes that simultaneously offer low resistance, high transparency and a smooth surface. Here, we report flexible transparent electrodes created using water-processed silver nanowires and a polyelectrolyte. Due to ionic electrostatic charge repulsion, the nanowires form grid-like structures in a single step, leading to smooth, flexible electrodes that have a sheet resistance of around 10 Ω−1 and a transmittance of around 92% (excluding the substrate). To illustrate the potential of the approach in organic electronics, we use the flexible electrodes to create organic photovoltaic devices. The devices are tested with different types of donors and acceptors, and exhibit performance comparable to devices based on commercial rigid electrodes. Furthermore, flexible single-junction and tandem devices achieve power conversion efficiencies of 13.1% and 16.5%, respectively.
