TY - JOUR
T1 - Work Function-Tunable Amorphous Carbon-Silver Nanocomposite Hybrid Electrode for Optoelectronic Applications
AU - Kesavan, Arul Varman
AU - Lee, Byeong Ryong
AU - Son, Kyung Rock
AU - Khot, Atul C.
AU - Dongale, Tukaram D.
AU - Murugadoss, Vignesh
AU - Ramamurthy, Praveen C.
AU - Kim, Tae Geun
N1 - Funding Information:
A.V.K. conceived the idea and conducted the experiments. B.R.L., K.R.S., A.C.K., and T.D.D. provided professional suggestions and helped during the experiments. A.V.K., V.M., and P.C.R. analyzed the data and wrote the paper. T.G.K. fully assisted with paper writing, provided resources, and was responsible for funding acquisition.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.
PY - 2021/1/27
Y1 - 2021/1/27
N2 - Parameters such as electrode work function (WF), optical reflectance, electrode morphology, and interface roughness play a crucial role in optoelectronic device design; therefore, fine-tuning these parameters is essential for efficient end-user applications. In this study, amorphous carbon-silver (C-Ag) nanocomposite hybrid electrodes are proposed and fully characterized for solar photovoltaic applications. Basically, the WF, sheet resistance, and optical reflectance of the C-Ag nanocomposite electrode are fine-tuned by varying the composition in a wide range. Experimental results suggest that irrespective of the variation in the graphite-silver composition, smaller and consistent grain size distributions offer uniform WF across the electrode surface. In addition, the strong C-Ag interaction in the nanocomposite enhances the nanomechanical properties of the hybrid electrode, such as hardness, reduced modulus, and elastic recovery parameters. Furthermore, the C-Ag nanocomposite hybrid electrode exhibits relatively lower surface roughness than the commercially available carbon paste electrode. These results suggest that the C-Ag nanocomposite electrode can be used for highly efficient photovoltaics in place of the conventional carbon-based electrodes.
AB - Parameters such as electrode work function (WF), optical reflectance, electrode morphology, and interface roughness play a crucial role in optoelectronic device design; therefore, fine-tuning these parameters is essential for efficient end-user applications. In this study, amorphous carbon-silver (C-Ag) nanocomposite hybrid electrodes are proposed and fully characterized for solar photovoltaic applications. Basically, the WF, sheet resistance, and optical reflectance of the C-Ag nanocomposite electrode are fine-tuned by varying the composition in a wide range. Experimental results suggest that irrespective of the variation in the graphite-silver composition, smaller and consistent grain size distributions offer uniform WF across the electrode surface. In addition, the strong C-Ag interaction in the nanocomposite enhances the nanomechanical properties of the hybrid electrode, such as hardness, reduced modulus, and elastic recovery parameters. Furthermore, the C-Ag nanocomposite hybrid electrode exhibits relatively lower surface roughness than the commercially available carbon paste electrode. These results suggest that the C-Ag nanocomposite electrode can be used for highly efficient photovoltaics in place of the conventional carbon-based electrodes.
KW - carbon
KW - electrode
KW - interface engineering
KW - nanocomposite
KW - optoelectronic applications
KW - silver
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85099915688&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1021/acsami.0c13937
DO - 10.1021/acsami.0c13937
M3 - Article
C2 - 33433998
AN - SCOPUS:85099915688
VL - 13
SP - 4284
EP - 4293
JO - ACS applied materials & interfaces
JF - ACS applied materials & interfaces
SN - 1944-8244
IS - 3
ER -