Regular Article

Optimization of SnO₂/Ag nanowire transparent hybrid electrodes for optoelectronic applications

¹ Département de Physique, Faculté des Sciences Exactes, Mascara University, B.P. 305, 29000 Mascara, Algeria
² Laboratoire de Physique des Couches Minces et Matériaux pour l'Electronique (LPCMME), Oran1 Ahmed Benbella University, 31000 Oran, Algeria

^* e-mail: younes.mouchaal@univ-mascara.dz

Received: 22 April 2019
Received in final form: 11 October 2019
Accepted: 11 October 2019
Published online: 8 November 2019

Abstract

Silver nanowire (Ag NW) networks are gaining more interest as promising candidates for the substitution of indium tin oxide (ITO) for top electrodes in optoelectronic devices. In this work we investigated the electrical, optical, structural, and morphological properties of SnO₂/Ag NW hybrid film deposited by spray pyrolysis root. We showed that annealing at appropriate temperature improves optoelectronic and morphological properties of the SnO₂/AgNWs electrodes; the optimal annealing temperature was 180 °C for 20 min. These annealing conditions allow better homogenization of the nanowires and their welding at the intersection nodes ensuring conduction of the charge carriers along the conductive grid formed of nanowires. The optimized SnO₂/AgNWs electrodes have a large optical window covering the near-UV, Vis and IR range, with an average transparency of 85% and a sheet resistance of 6.1 Ω/sq. These optoelectronic performances have led to a merit factor of 2.5 × 10⁻² Ω⁻¹ being a competitive performance among the currently developed electrodes that can be promising candidates for applications as a transparent electrodes in optoelectronic devices.