Copper nanowire arrays for transparent electrodes

Metallic nanowires have demonstrated high optical transmission and electrical conductivity with potential for application as transparent electrodes that may be used in flexible devices. In this paper, we systematically investigated the electrical and optical properties of 1D and 2D copper nanowire (Cu NW) arrays as a function of diameter and pitch and compared their performance to that of Cu thin films and our recent results on silver (Ag) NW arrays. Cu NWs exhibit enhanced transmission over thin films due to propagating resonance modes between NWs. For the same geometry, the transmission of Cu NW arrays is about the same as that of Ag NW arrays since the dispersion relation of propagating modes in metal nanowire arrays are independent of the metal permittivity. The sheet resistance is also comparable since the conductivity of Cu is about the same as that of Ag. Just as in Ag NWs, larger Cu NW diameters and pitches are favored for achieving higher solar transmission at a particular sheet resistance. Cu NW arrays may achieve solar transmission >90% with sheet resistances <10 Ω/sq and figure of merit σDC/σop>1000. One of the primary concerns with the use of Cu is oxidation and we also investigated the impact of a nickel (Ni) coating, which can serve as an anti-oxidation layer, on the electrical and optical properties.