Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, Vol.125, 113-119, 2014
Invisible Ag grid embedded with ITO nanoparticle layer as a transparent hybrid electrode
Ag grid and indium tin oxide (ITO) nanoparticles were assembled by electrohydrodynamic (EHD) jet-printing and brush-painting to realize high-quality printable, transparent conductive electrodes. Effective embedment of an EHD jet-printed Ag grid with a line width of 7.5 mu m in brush-painted ITO nanoparticles led to an invisible Ag grid/ITO hybrid electrode with a resistivity of 4.20 x 10(-5) Omega-cm and an optical transmittance of 83.72% at the optimized Ag grid pitch of 300 mu m. Increased carrier concentration supplied by the EHD jet-printed Ag grid reduced the resistivity of Ag grid/ITO hybrid electrodes compared to that of metallic electrodes. The good match between calculated and measured figure of merit values based on the filling factor (f(F)) indicated that embedment of an EHD jet-printed Ag grid in brush-painted ITO nanoparticle is an effective approach to obtain high quality printable transparent electrodes for use in all-printable optoelectronic devices. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.