Fabrication of inkjet printed organic photovoltaics on flexible Ag electrode with additives

• Organic photovoltaics are fabricated utilizing flexible, thin film Ag anodes.
• Photoactive layer dimensions are accurately defined by inkjet printing deposition.
• A cheap, non-toxic additive, 1,6-hexanedithiol is used to facilitate ideal morphology.
• Performance of printed Ag-OPVs is similar to that fabricated by spin-coating.

In this paper, we describe organic photovoltaics (OPVs) based on flexible thin film Ag anodes that are fabricated using a controlled deposition of photoactive layer by inkjet printing. The inkjet printed OPV photo-active layer is a P3HT:PCBM blend incorporated with a high boiling point additive, 1,6-hexanedithiol which serves to allow improved morphology. The devices show comparable power conversion efficiency to those fabricated using spin-coating techniques. Optimization of procedures for OPV fabrication without ITO electrodes or spin-coating of the active layer is a vital step towards realizing the potential of OPVs for mass production.

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