Atmospheric-pressure processed silver nanowire (Ag-NW) / ZnO composite transparent conducting contacts

Composite transparent contacts (TCs) based on metal nanowires and metal oxide matrix materials hold great promise for high performance transparent contacts for photovoltaics and opto-electronic technologies with the potential of all-atmospheric pressure processing. The metal nanowire mesh can provide both electrical conductivity and mechanical robustness against bending while the matrix material can both control the electrical interface and protect the metal nanowires. Here, we demonstrate all atmospheric pressure processed Ag-NW/ZnO composite TCs that are 90% transparent in the visible with sheet resistance Rs ≈ 10 Ohms/sq. In addition, the composite TCs have higher infrared transmission than conventional TCO films with the same sheet resistance.