M13 bacteriophage-templated gold nanowires as stretchable electrodes in perovskite solar cells

Abstract

The synthesis and stretchable device application of bacteriophage-templated gold nanowires are demonstrated. Stretchable gold nanowires are synthesised by growing gold nanoparticles on a network of virus clones. Exploiting dimethylamine borane as a reducing agent, a spontaneous redox reaction between HAuCl₄ and M13 bacteriophage wild-type virus—without the need for genetic engineering—produces a metal nanowire network with high transparency and conductivity. Virus, HAuCl₄, and ascorbic acid additive concentrations are optimised for high optical conductivity. The optimal virus-templated gold nanowire electrodes from aqueous solutions exhibit a sheet resistance of 144.5 Ω sq⁻¹ and transparency of 83% at 550 nm light wavelength. The virus-templated gold nanowire electrodes are transferred to polydimethylsiloxane for morphology roughness reduction as well as the application of its stretchability. Perovskite solar cells fabricated using virus-templated Au nanowires exhibit a power conversion efficiency of 9.28% and a stretchability of 8% owing to the intrinsic flexibility of the M13 bacteriophage template.