Transparent organic photovoltaics with a tungsten oxide buffer layer fabricated by nanosecond laser processing for color-neutral performance

Abstract

Transparent photovoltaics (TPVs) have become a vital research area in recent years due to their potential applications in see-through surfaces such as windows, building facades, and mobile electronics. However, the limitations of material selectivity, optical transmission, and color neutrality associated with existing TPV technologies have hindered their widespread implementation. There is a critical need for a universal TPV technology that can be applied to comprehensive photovoltaic systems, offers high transmittance in the visible spectrum, and shows no deviation in chromaticity coordinates. In this study, we propose a durable, flexible and cost-effective approach for treating standard non-fullerene materials in organic photovoltaic systems, utilizing an air-cooling nanosecond laser processing system to achieve enhanced performance. Varying the hexagonal width processing allows agility in controlling the optical transmission properties of the overall photovoltaic structure. Additionally, we deposit a tungsten oxide layer as a buffer against the high-power laser to increase the reliability of our treatment. By limiting the depth of the thermal damage effect, only three achromic layers of glass, indium tin oxide, and zinc oxide remain for the transparent region, resulting in a high average visible transmittance (AVT > 65%) of the TPV device with no color deviation. We believe that the collaboration of the buffer layer with an air-cooling nanosecond laser as the processing light source expands the applicability of our treatment and could pave the way for commercializing TPVs as a significant player in the renewable energy market.