Laminated fabric as top electrode for organic photovoltaics

Abstract

A simple lamination technique for conductive and semitransparent fabrics on top of organic photovoltaic cells is presented. Conductive fabrics consisted of metal wires woven in a fabric with polymeric fibers. The lamination of this conductive fabric with help of a high conductive poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate formulation results in well aligned low resistive metal wires as top electrode. Semitransparent flexible organic photovoltaic cells were processed with laminated fabrics as top electrode and sputtered layers of aluminum doped zinc oxide and Ag as bottom electrode. The organic photovoltaic cells showed similar performance when illuminated through the bottom or top electrode. Optical simulations were performed to investigate light scattering effects of the fabric. Results are very promising for photovoltaic and lightning devices as well as for all kinds of devices where semitransparent, highly conductive, and non-vacuum processed electrode materials are needed.