Opto-electrical devices incorporating metal nanowires
The present disclosure relates to OLED and PV devices including transparent electrodes that are formed of conductive nanostructures and methods of improving light out-coupling in OLED and input-coupling in PV devices.
1. A photovoltaic cell comprising:
a substrate having a top surface and a bottom surface, wherein the top surface is an interface between the substrate and air;
a first electrode comprising a plurality of conductive nanostructures;
a photo-active layer, wherein the first electrode is between the bottom surface of the substrate and the photo-active layer; and
a second electrode, wherein the photo-active layer is between the first electrode and the second electrode.
2. The photovoltaic cell of claim 1 , wherein:
the first electrode has a first width, and
the photo-active layer has a second width different than the first width.
3. The photovoltaic cell of claim 2 , wherein the second width is less than the first width.
4. The photovoltaic cell of claim 2 , wherein the second electrode has a third width different than the first width and different than the second width.
5. The photovoltaic cell of claim 4 , wherein:
the second width is less than the first width, and
the third width is less than the second width.
6. The photovoltaic cell of claim 1 , wherein:
the substrate has a first refractive index, and
the photo-active layer has a second refractive index greater than the first refractive index.
7. The photovoltaic cell of claim 1 , comprising:
a plurality of light scattering particles disposed between the substrate and the photo-active layer.
8. The photovoltaic cell of claim 7 , wherein the plurality of light scattering particles contact the bottom surface of the substrate.
9. The photovoltaic cell of claim 7 , wherein the plurality of light scattering particles is at least one of SiO x , AlO x , InO x , SnO x , ZnO x , Al-doped ZnO x (AZO), indium tin oxide (ITO), Sb-doped SnO x (ATO), TiO x , SiC, or fluorine-doped SnO x (FTO).
10. The photovoltaic cell of claim 1 , wherein the second electrode is a metal plate.
11. An optical stack comprising:
a first electrode;
an organic stack; and
a nanostructure layer, wherein:
the organic stack is between the first electrode and the nanostructure layer,
the nanostructure layer comprises a plurality of metal nanostructures and a high-index matrix,
the nanostructure layer forms a second electrode, and
the high-index matrix has a same or a higher refractive index than the organic stack.
12. The optical stack of claim 11 , comprising:
a high-index layer, wherein the nanostructure layer is between the organic stack and the high-index layer.
13. The optical stack of claim 12 , wherein the high-index layer has a same or a higher refractive index than the organic stack.
14. The optical stack of claim 12 , wherein the high-index layer has a refractive index of at least 1.55.
15. The optical stack of claim 12 , wherein the high-index layer comprises a plurality of light scattering particles.
16. An optical stack comprising:
a first electrode;
an organic stack; and
a nanostructure layer, wherein:
the organic stack is between the first electrode and the nanostructure layer,
the nanostructure layer comprises a plurality of metal nanostructures and a low-index matrix;
the nanostructure layer forms a second electrode, and
the low-index matrix has a lower refractive index than the organic stack.
17. The optical stack of claim 16 , comprising:
a high-index layer, wherein the nanostructure layer is between the organic stack and the high-index layer.
18. The optical stack of claim 17 , wherein the high-index layer has a same or a higher refractive index than the organic stack.
19. The optical stack of claim 18 , wherein the high-index layer comprises a plurality of light scattering particles.