Enhancement of Transparent Conductive Electrodes for Third Generation Photovoltaics

This work investigates the feasibility of fabricating a flexible transparent photoelectrode for dye-sensitized solar cell applications. The traditional electrodes are brittle but highly conductive and transmissive ITO, and thus the advantages of introducing flexibility are explored in this research project. PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) is a material that can withstand bending without significant change in its mechanical or optical properties. Coupling this material with AgNWs (Silver nanowires) enhances the conductivity without sacrificing optical transmission. AgNWs are deposited on the PET substrate by a number of methods (spincoating, rod coating, and drop casting) and the effects of using each method are compared to determine the optimum way of deposition. The resulting photoelectrodes are then characterized by their sheet resistance and transmissivity.