Roll-offset printed transparent conducting electrode for organic solar cells

• Roll-offset printing provided a remarkable printability of Ag nano-ink.
• Control of ink cohesion played a critical role on the patterning of Ag nano-ink.
• Printed Ag mesh was used as a transparent conducting electrode.
• Transparency and sheet resistance of printed Ag mesh can be designed simply.
• Printed Ag mesh was effective for the current collection of organic solar cells.

Transparent conducting electrodes (TCEs) were developed through the roll-offset printing of Ag grid mesh patterns for the application of all-solution processed organic solar cells (OSCs). Due to the remarkable printability of roll-offset printing, the printed TCEs did not show the step coverage problem of subsequent thin layers, which was a chronic problem in other printing techniques. The control of ink cohesion was verified as a critical factor for the high printing quality, which was optimized by adding a polyurethane diol of 2 wt.%. The tensile strength of optimized Ag ink was 322 mN, which led to the clear patterning of Ag nanoparticles. The printed TCEs with different mesh densities of the Ag grid were designed to have a similar property of indium tin oxide (ITO). The measured sheet resistance was 13 Ω/□, and optical transmittance was 86%, including the glass substrate, which was found to be independent of wavelength in the visible spectrum, in contrast with the optical transmittance of ITO. To evaluate the TCE performance as bottom electrodes, all-solution processed OSCs were fabricated on top of the TCEs. The power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the OSCs increased with the increments of the mesh density due to the distinctive increase of the short circuit current density (Jsc), notwithstanding the similar transmittance and sheet resistance of the TCEs. In comparison with ITO, a higher PCE of OSCs was obtained because the printed TCEs with a high mesh density were able to facilitate effective current collection, leading to a significant increase of Jsc.