Performance improvement in flexible polymer solar cells based on modified silver nanowire electrode

In this work, an efficient flexible polymer solar cell was achieved by controlling the UV-ozone treatment time of silver nanowires (Ag NWs) used in the electrode and combined with other modification materials. Through optimizing the time of UV-ozone treatment, it is shown that Ag NWs electrode treated by UV-ozone for 10 s improves the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the device based on the blend of poly(3-hexylthiophene)(P3HT): [6,6]-phenyl C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PC61BM) from 0.76% to 1.34%. After treatment by UV-ozone, Ag NWs electrodes exhibit several promising characteristics, including high optical transparency, low sheet resistance and superior surface work function. As a consequence, the performance of devices utilizing 10 s UV-ozone-treated Ag NWs with PEDOT: PSS or MoO3 as composite anode showed higher PCEs of 2.77% (2.73%) compared with that for Ag NW electrodes without UV-ozone treatment. In addition, a PCE of 5.97% in flexible polymer solar cells based on poly[4,8-bis( 5-(2-ethylhexyl) thiophen-2-yl)-benzo[1,2-b: 4,5-b0] dithiophene-2,6-diyl-alt-(4-(2-ethylhexyl)- 3-fluorothieno[3,4-b] thiophene-)-2-carboxylate-2-6-diyl](PBDTTT-EFT):[6, 6]-phenyl C71-butyric acid methyl ester (PC71BM) as a photoactive layer was obtained.