On October 28, Professor Jong Lam Lee from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) announced that his team succeeded in improving on the light transmittance and electricity conductivity of the conventional electrode by developing a new, transparent prototype that can be applied to flexible organic solar cells. The current clear electrode is composed of indium tin oxide, which requires a temperature of over 300 degrees Celsius to be manufactured and is incapable of being flexed to be applied to wearable solar cells. However, its more recent counterpart developed by the research team is not only pliable but also takes advantage of nanoimprinting technology, rendering the manufacturing of such transparent electrodes easier. At the same time, the research team also proved that the new clear electrode offers better light transmittance and electrical conductivity by restraining plasmon reactions, which in the traditional clear electrode consumed a lot of energy and led to poor efficiency. According to the team, the new electrode, with a thickness of 8nm, showed a much higher efficiency than the 170nm-thick electrode made of indium tin oxide. This breakthrough was published in the October edition of Advanced Energy Materials.

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