Transparent composite electrodes for future flexible photovoltaic applications

Transparent conductive oxides (TCO) are widely used as electrodes in organic photovoltaics (OPV) devices and organic light emitting diodes devices. Flexible and transparent composite electrodes (TCE, TCO/metal/TCO multilayers) have recently attracted a substantial amount of attention due to rapid advances in flexible optoelectronics such as OPV, flat panels and flexible OLEDs for use as new generation displays. TCEs that are fabricated on flexible substrates are important and fascinating due to their flexibility, robustness, lightweight, and potential for portability. Because the performance of flexible optoelectronics is critically affected by the electrode quality, it is important to develop high-quality flexible TCEs with low resistivity and high transparency as well as superior flexibility. This presentation focuses on the issues related to the low-temperature processing, microstructure, and electrical and optical properties of these composite structures.