Gul Amir Shehzad, Noman Muhammad, Rehman Qandeel, Khan Aimal Daud, Rehan Muhammad Saad, Jan Shayan Tariq, Khan Adnan Daud
U.S.-Pakistan Center for Advanced Studies in Energy, University of Engineering & Technology Peshawar Pakistan
RSC Adv. 2024 May 14;14(22):15571-15581. doi: 10.1039/d4ra01797h. eCollection 2024 May 10.
Transparent and conductive electrodes (TCEs) are essential for various optoelectronic and photovoltaic applications, but they often require expensive and complex fabrication methods. In this paper, a unique low-cost, eco-friendly, and scalable method of fabricating TCEs using spray-coated carbon ink is investigated. Firstly the carbon particles used for this process underwent a size reduction from 20 microns to 0.96 microns ball milling. Then ink was prepared by mixing graphite powder (for conductivity), ethyl cellulose (for viscosity), and toluene (for solubility) with different weight-per-volume ratios (w/v) of 5%, 10%, and 15%. The TCEs were fabricated by spray coating the ink onto glass substrates using an airbrush. The sheet resistance (Ω sq) and transparency (%) of the TCEs were measured by a digital multimeter (DMM) probe method and a UV-vis spectrophotometer, respectively. The sheet resistance of the TCEs decreased linearly from 60 to 20 Ω sq, while the transparency decreased exponentially from 37.18% to 18.88% as the ink concentration increased from 5% to 15% w/v. This paper also reports the reflectance and absorbance values for each ink concentration. The results demonstrate that spray-coated carbon ink TCEs achieve sheet resistance and transparency values of 20 Ω sq and 18.88%, respectively, with low-cost and eco-friendly materials and methods, which are desirable for optoelectronic and photovoltaic applications. These TCEs can play an important role as electrodes in semi-transparent perovskite cells enhancing their stability and overall efficiency.
透明导电电极(TCEs)对于各种光电和光伏应用至关重要,但它们通常需要昂贵且复杂的制造方法。本文研究了一种独特的低成本、环保且可扩展的使用喷涂碳墨水制造TCEs的方法。首先,用于此过程的碳颗粒通过球磨从20微米减小到0.96微米。然后,通过将石墨粉(用于导电)、乙基纤维素(用于粘度)和甲苯(用于溶解性)以5%、10%和15%的不同重量体积比(w/v)混合来制备墨水。通过使用喷枪将墨水喷涂到玻璃基板上来制造TCEs。分别通过数字万用表(DMM)探针法和紫外可见分光光度计测量TCEs的方块电阻(Ω/sq)和透明度(%)。随着墨水浓度从5% w/v增加到15% w/v,TCEs的方块电阻从60 Ω/sq线性下降到20 Ω/sq,而透明度从37.18%呈指数下降到18.88%。本文还报告了每种墨水浓度的反射率和吸光度值。结果表明,喷涂碳墨水TCEs使用低成本和环保材料及方法分别实现了20 Ω/sq的方块电阻和18.88%的透明度,这对于光电和光伏应用是理想的。这些TCEs可以作为半透明钙钛矿电池中的电极发挥重要作用,提高其稳定性和整体效率。