Smooth, Chemically Altered Nucleating Platform for Abrupt Performance Enhancement of Ultrathin Cu-Layer-Based Transparent Electrodes.

Vo, Tran Thi Bao; Lim, Jaeun; Joo, Si Hyeon; Kim, Heechang; Lee, Taehyeong; Bae, Jong-Seong; Jeong, Eunwook; Kwon, Min-Suk et al. · Nano Lett · 2023

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Rapid advances in flexible optoelectronic devices necessitate the concomitant development of high-performance, cost-efficient, and flexible transparent conductive electrodes (TCEs). This Letter reports an abrupt enhancement in the optoelectronic characteristics of ultrathin Cu-layer-based TCEs via Ar<sup>+</sup>-mediated modulation of the chemical and physical states of a ZnO support surface. This approach strongly regulates the growth mode for the subsequently deposited Cu layer, in addition to marked alteration to the ZnO/Cu interface states, resulting in exceptional TCE performance in the form of ZnO/Cu/ZnO TCEs. The resultant Haacke figure of merit (<i>T</i><sup>10</sup>/<i>R</i><sub><i>s</i></sub>) of 0.063 Ω<sup>-1</sup>, 53% greater than that of the unaltered, otherwise identical structure, corresponds to a record-high value for Cu-layer-based TCEs. Moreover, the enhanced TCE performance in this approach is shown to be highly sustainable under severe simultaneous loadings of electrical, thermal, and mechanical stresses.