Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 11, 2026
Fabrication of Robust Nanoscale Contact between a Silver Nanowire Electrode and CdS Buffer Layer in CuIn,GaSe2 Thin-film Solar Cells
Published on: July 19, 2019
Solution-Processed Ag Nanowires + PEDOT:PSS Hybrid Electrode for Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ Thin-Film Solar Cells
Donghyeop Shin1, Taegeon Kim1, Byung Tae Ahn1
1†Department of Materials Science and Engineering and §Graduate School of Energy Environment Water and Sustainability, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, 291 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305-701, Republic of Korea.
Abstract:
To reduce the cost of the Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) solar cells while maximizing the efficiency, we report the use of an Ag nanowires (NWs) + poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (
Pedot:
PSS) hybrid transparent electrode, which was deposited using all-solution-processed, low-cost, scalable methods. This is the first demonstration of an Ag NWs +
Pedot:
PSS transparent electrode applied to CIGS solar cells. The spin-coated 10-nm-thick
Pedot:
PSS conducting polymer layer in our hybrid electrode functioned as a filler of empty space of an electrostatically sprayed Ag NW network. Coating of
Pedot:
PSS on the Ag NW network resulted in an increase in the short-circuit current from 15.4 to 26.5 mA/cm(2), but the open-circuit voltage and shunt resistance still needed to be improved. The limited open-circuit voltage was found to be due to interfacial recombination that is due to the ineffective hole-blocking ability of the CdS film. To suppress the interfacial recombination between Ag NWs and the CdS film, a Zn(S,O,OH) film was introduced as a hole-blocking layer between the CdS film and Ag NW network. The open-circuit voltage of the cell sharply improved from 0.35 to 0.6 V, which resulted in the best cell efficiency of 11.6%.
