Degradation of Flexible, ITO-Free Oligothiophene Organic Solar Cells.

We investigate the degradation of organic solar cells based on an oligothiophene (DCV5T-Me) small molecule donor and the acceptor C60. Two different flexible, transparent bottom electrode types are employed: a transparent metal electrode (TME) and silver nanowires (AgNWs). They exhibit high optical transparency up to 86% and a sheet resistance as low as 12Ω/□. Power conversion efficiencies of 7.0%, 5.7%, and 7.2% on TME, AgNWs, and indium tin oxide (ITO, reference) are reached, respectively. The solar cells are protected against moisture ingress utilizing a flexible alumina thin-film, exhibiting water vapor transmission rates down to 3 × 10(-5) g m(-2) day(-1) at 38 °C and 90% relative humidity (RH). Implementation of this ultrabarrier as top and bottom encapsulation enables fabrication of fully flexible devices. A decrease in PCE to 80% of initial values is observed after 1000 ± 50 h on flexible, encapsulated TME but only 20 ± 5 h on AgNWs in a climate of 38 °C/50% RH. Degradation in AgNW-based devices is attributed to electrode decomposition.

A spray-coating process for highly conductive silver nanowire networks as the transparent top-electrode for small molecule organic photovoltaics.

We present a novel top-electrode spray-coating process for the solution-based deposition of silver nanowires (AgNWs) onto vacuum-processed small molecule organic electronic solar cells. The process is compatible with organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) and organic light emitting thin film transistors (OLETs) as well. By modifying commonly synthesized AgNWs with a perfluorinated methacrylate, we are able to disperse these wires in a highly fluorinated solvent. This solvent does not dissolve most organic materials, enabling a top spray-coating process for sensitive small molecule and polymer-based devices. The optimized preparation of the novel AgNW dispersion and spray-coating at only 30 °C leads to high performance electrodes directly after the deposition, exhibiting a sheet resistance of 10.0 Ω â–¡(-1) at 87.4% transparency (80.0% with substrate). By spraying our novel AgNW dispersion in air onto the vacuum-processed organic p-i-n type solar cells, we obtain working solar cells with a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 1.23%, compared to the air exposed reference devices employing thermally evaporated thin metal layers as the top-electrode.