Smooth nanowire/polymer composite transparent electrodes.

IO N Transparent electrodes are critical components of thin-fi lm optoelectronic devices such as displays and thin-fi lm solar cells. Most high-performance transparent conducting fi lms in use today are composed of sputtered metal oxides. [ 1 , 2 ] These fi lms can have sheet resistances under 20 Ω − 1 with 90% transmission when deposited at a high temperature onto glass and resistances increasing to 40–200 Ω − 1 with the same transmission when deposited at lower temperatures onto plastic substrates. [ 2 , 3 ] Recent research has focused on replacing conductive metal oxides with alternative materials that can be deposited from solution and can reproduce the performance of metal oxides on glass on various substrates, including plastics. In addition, metal oxides are brittle, [ 4 , 5 ] and thus alternative transparent conductor technologies are also focusing on fl exibility and robustness to enable lightweight, fl exible solar cells and other thin fi lm devices. Strategies for non-vacuum deposition of transparent electrodes make use of materials other than metal oxides [ 6 ]