Facile chemical spray deposition of Ag-nanowire films: tailoring their structural, optical, and electrical properties for application as TCEs

Abstract

High-quality silver nanowires (Ag-NWs) with diameters below 200 nm were successfully deposited on glass substrates using a facile spray coating technique, forming transparent conductive electrodes (TCEs) for use in perovskite solar cells (PSCs). The impact of film thickness on the structural purity, surface morphology, optical behavior, and electrical transport properties of the Ag-NW films was thoroughly examined using advanced characterization techniques, including XRD, XPS, FE-SEM, FIB, AFM, UV-visible-NIR spectroscopy, Hall effect analysis, and four-probe resistance studies. The FE-SEM and FIB analyses revealed that the Ag-NWs possessed diameters ranging from 42 to 180 nm and lengths from 2.01 µm to 2.5 µm. Notably, the Ag-3 NW film demonstrated enhanced optical and electrical transport characteristics, achieving an exceptional figure of merit (45.02 × 10⁻⁴ Ω⁻¹) and low sheet resistance (18.1 Ω □⁻¹). The PSC devices incorporating the Ag-NW electrodes exhibited a remarkable efficiency of 11.6%, highlighting their potential for next-generation solar energy applications. Hence, the results obtained confirm the viability of Ag-NW thin films in advancing PSC technology.