Silver‐Nanowire/Graphene Stacked Transparent Electrodes and Its Application to Flexible Thin Film Photovoltaic Device

• Published in: Electrical engineering in Japan Vol. 218; no. 1
• Main Authors: Akasaka, Miho, Noguchi, Masahiko, Kobayashi, Taizo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.03.2025
• Subjects: Buffer layers; Electrodes; flexible; Graphene; Indium tin oxides; Metal foils; Nanowires; Oxidation; Photovoltaic cells; photovoltaic device; silver‐nanowire; Sol-gel processes; Thin films; transparent conducting electrode; Zinc oxide
• ISSN: 0424-7760; 1520-6416
• DOI: 10.1002/eej.23504

ABSTRACT In this study, silver nanowire covered with graphene (AgNW/Graphene) transparent conducting electrodes (TCE) were developed as bendable TCE instead of conventionally used indium tin oxide (ITO) for flexible photovoltaic applications. CVD‐grown graphene films were transferred from a Cu foil onto a spin‐coated AgNW TCE. AgNW/Graphene TCE exhibited lower electrical resistance than 10 Ω and high optical transmission of approximately 80% at visible wavelengths before and after bending of 20 cycles at a radius of 15 mm. Thermal tolerance of AgNW was drastically improved by protecting silver nanowires with graphene from oxidation at the 300°C air annealing test. ZnMgO/Se thin film photovoltaic devices with AgNW/graphene were successfully demonstrated by insertion of a sol‐gel ZnO buffer layer in order to protect AgNW/graphene from sputtering bombardment.