Parameterization of Metallic Grids on Transparent Conductive Electrodes for the Scaling of Organic Solar Cells
Gregory Burwell, Nicholas Burridge, Eloise Bond, Wei Li, Paul Meredith, Ardalan Armin
Abstract
Abstract Intense research interest in organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices has resulted in steadily improving figures of merit in recent years. Typically, these devices are fabricated by processing active and buffer layers on transparent conductive electrodes (TCEs). Superlative OPV devices are small (<≈0.1 cm 2 ). The sheet resistance of available monolithic transparent conductive oxide (TCO) materials limits the performance of larger devices and hence the practically attainable cell area. Here, the use of metallic grids in combination with TCOs to create composite TCEs as a means of scaling solution‐processed photovoltaics devices to practical sizes is parameterized. Finite element modeling is used to investigate the relevant design parameters and to estimate figures of merit for realistic organic solar cells. It is shown that the scalability of devices with metallic grids improves significantly when grids are implemented at micrometer scales. Representative silver grids are fabricated and the optical and electrical properties of the resulting structures are measured. Overall, these findings indicate that metallic grids can be designed to develop large‐area solution‐processed solar cells with currently available fabrication techniques.