TY - JOUR

T1 - Spray coated silver nanowires as transparent electrodes in OPVs for Building Integrated Photovoltaics applications

AU - DIng, Z.

AU - Stoichkov, Vasil

AU - Horie, M.

AU - Brousseau, E.

AU - Kettle, Jeffrey

N1 - The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union's Research Fund for Coal and Steel (RFCS) research programme under grant agreement no. RFSR-CT-2014–00014.

PY - 2016/12

Y1 - 2016/12

N2 - The application of spray coated silver nanowires (AgNWs) onto OPVs for building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPVs) is demonstrated. By using AgNWs with PEDOT:PSS, a transparent conductive layer was demonstrated on top of an P3HT:PCBM active layer with a sheet resistance of 30 Ω/⎕ for 90% transparency. This has been applied to two separate configurations; semi-transparent OPVs for solar glazing applications and OPVs onto an opaque substrate, namely steel. For the latter, a novel technique to planarise the steel substrate with an intermediate layer is also presented, with a substantial decrease in surface roughness reported to ensure that the substrate is smooth enough to use for OPV fabrication. The use of SU-8 as an intermediate layer reduced the surface roughness to RA=10 nm, which is one of the lowest values reported to date, and was achieved on a low cost substrate (DC01 low carbon steel) using solution processing.

AB - The application of spray coated silver nanowires (AgNWs) onto OPVs for building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPVs) is demonstrated. By using AgNWs with PEDOT:PSS, a transparent conductive layer was demonstrated on top of an P3HT:PCBM active layer with a sheet resistance of 30 Ω/⎕ for 90% transparency. This has been applied to two separate configurations; semi-transparent OPVs for solar glazing applications and OPVs onto an opaque substrate, namely steel. For the latter, a novel technique to planarise the steel substrate with an intermediate layer is also presented, with a substantial decrease in surface roughness reported to ensure that the substrate is smooth enough to use for OPV fabrication. The use of SU-8 as an intermediate layer reduced the surface roughness to RA=10 nm, which is one of the lowest values reported to date, and was achieved on a low cost substrate (DC01 low carbon steel) using solution processing.

U2 - 10.1016/j.solmat.2016.05.053

DO - 10.1016/j.solmat.2016.05.053

M3 - Article

VL - 157

SP - 305

EP - 311

JO - Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells

JF - Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells

SN - 0927-0248

IS - December 2016

ER -