Improved Transfer-Free Sustainable Graphene Electrode using Silver Nanowires for Organic Photovoltaics

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The hybridization of silver nanowires (AgNWs) and chemical vapor deposition (CVD)-based graphene is a promising strategy to produce efficient transparent conducting electrodes (TCEs) for organic photovoltaics (OPVs). In this work, we successfully demonstrate the coupling of transfer-free graphene fabricated on glass using plasma-enhanced CVD from a sustainable carbon source with AgNWs and hence avoided a multistep procedure to transfer graphene and damages. The resulting hybrid TCEs exhibit a lower sheet resistance compared to the pristine graphene. In addition, the growth of vertically oriented-graphene nanosheets suppresses the impact of the rough surface of AgNWs and increases the area of interface between the TCE and the active layer. OPV devices developed on the hybrid TCE with active layers, namely, P3HT: PCBM, P3HT: PC 70 BM, and PM6: Y6, show a comparable performance to the reference device. For instance, the P3HT:PCBM-based device on the hybrid electrode exhibits a higher fill factor (0.63) and a comparable power conversion efficiency (2.18%) to that of the ITO-counterpart (0.60 and 2.22%, respectively). Similarly, the PM6:Y6-device fabricated on the hybrid TCE demonstrates an efficiency (9.75%) analogous to that on ITO (10.3%). The present work demonstrates an auspicious platform toward sustainable and economic production of efficient transfer-free graphene-based TCEs for OPVs.