Inverted Layer‐By‐Layer Fabrication of an Ultraflexible and Transparent Ag Nanowire/Conductive Polymer Composite Electrode for Use in High‐Performance Organic Solar Cells |
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Authors: | Youngmin Kim Tae In Ryu Ki‐Hoon Ok Min‐Gi Kwak Sungmin Park Nam‐Gyu Park Chul Jong Han Bong Soo Kim Min Jae Ko Hae Jung Son Jong‐Woong Kim |
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Affiliation: | 1. Display Components & Materials Research Center, Korea Electronics Technology Institute, Seongnam, South Korea;2. School of Chemical Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, South Korea;3. Photoelectronic Hybrid Research Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul, South Korea;4. Department of Chemistry, Korea University, Seoul, South Korea;5. Display Convergence Research Center, Korea Electronics Technology Institute, Seongnam, South Korea;6. Department of Science Education, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, South Korea |
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Abstract: | A highly flexible and transparent conductive electrode based on consecutively stacked layers of conductive polymer (CP) and silver nanowires (AgNWs) fully embedded in a colorless polyimide (cPI) is achieved by utilizing an inverted layer‐by‐layer processing method. This CP‐AgNW composite electrode exhibits a high transparency of >92% at wavelengths of 450–700 nm and a low resistivity of 7.7 Ω ??1, while its ultrasmooth surface provides a large contact area for conductive pathways. Furthermore, it demonstrates an unprecedentedly high flexibility and good mechanical durability during both outward and inward bending to a radius of 40 μm. Subsequent application of this composite electrode in organic solar cells achieves power conversion efficiencies as high as 7.42%, which represents a significant improvement over simply embedding AgNWs in cPI. This is attributed to a reduction in bimolecular recombination and an increased charge collection efficiency, resulting in performance comparable to that of indium tin oxide‐based devices. More importantly, the high mechanical stability means that only a very slight reduction in efficiency is observed with bending (<5%) to a radius of 40 μm. This newly developed composite electrode is therefore expected to be directly applicable to a wide range of high‐performance, low‐cost flexible electronic devices. |
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Keywords: | composite electrodes conductive polymers flexible transparent electrodes organic solar cells silver nanowires |
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