High-Performance Hazy Silver Nanowire Transparent Electrodes through Diameter Tailoring for Semitransparent Photovoltaics

Solution-processed metal nanowire networks have attracted substantial attention as clear transparent conductive electrodes (TCEs) to replace metal oxides for low-cost and flexible touch panels and displays. While targeting photovoltaic applications, TCEs are expected to be more hazy for enhancing light absorption in the active layer, but are still required to retain high transmittance and low sheet resistance. Balancing these properties (haze, transmittance, and conductivity) in TCEs to realize high performance but high haze simultaneously is a challenge because they are mutually influenced. Here, by precisely tailoring the diameter of thick-long silver nanowires using rapid radial electrochemical etching, high hazy flexible TCEs are fabricated with high figure of merit of up to 741 (4 Omega sq(-1) at 88.4% transmittance with haze of 13.3%), surpassing those of commercialized brittle hazy metal oxides and exhibiting superiority for photovoltaic applications. Laminating such TCEs onto the perovskite solar cells as top electrodes, the obtained semitransparent devices exhibit power efficiencies up to 16.03% and 11.12% when illuminated from the bottom and top sides, respectively, outperforming reported results based on similar device architecture. This study provides a simple strategy for flexible and hazy TCEs fabrication, which is compatible with mild solution-processed photovoltaic devices, especially those containing heat-sensitive or chemical-sensitive materials.