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Low-Cost Fabrication of Organic
Photovoltaics and Polymer LEDs
Hongseok Youn, Hyunsoo Kim and L. Jay Guo
Abstract Polymer light-emitting diodes (PLEDs) and organic photovoltaics
(OPVs) are considered as next generation electronics due to the low-cost, flexibility,
and lightweight features. However, there are challenges such as large-area processing
technologies, film coating quality, and long-term stability toward scalable and
low-cost polymer electronics. This chapter deals with the various scalable processing
methods and evaluates the coating performance as well as electrical performances in
polymer electronics fabricated by the solution processes. Special attention on coating
instability is elaborated in the context of important material components in
PLEDs and OPVs. Proper coating techniques can be chosen by considering the
thickness requirement of each functional layer with good reproducibility. Addi-
tionally, we will evaluate mechanical/optical characteristics of the polymer anode
for ITO-free electrodes; and introduce the metal mesh in combination with con-
ductive polymers as the ITO-free transparent electrode for large area applications.
1 Introduction to Roll-Coating Techniques
Polymer electronics have great potential toward large-scale, lightweight, and low-
cost devices. Moreover, since polymers can be dissolved in common solvents,
polymer electronics can be fabricated using scalable solution processes such as
roll-to-roll, inkjet, blade, and spray coating methods. In particular, the polymer
solar cells are considered as next generation and sustainable photovoltaic devices.
They are attractive as additional power sources for mobile devices and could
become ubiquitous in the near future. Moreover, the flexible polymer solar cells
could also be applied for building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) such as walls,
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