Colloidal-structured metallic micro-grids: High performance transparent electrodes in the red and infrared range

One of the most promising approaches to produce industrial-compatible Transparent Conducting Materials (TCMs) with excellent characteristics is the fabrication of TCO/metal/TCO multilayers. In this article, we report on the electro-optical properties of a novel high-performing TCO/metal/TCO structure in which the intra-layer is a micro-structured metallic grid instead of a continuous thin film. The grid is obtained by evaporation of Ag through a mask of polystyrene colloidal micro-spheres deposited by the Langmuir-Blodgett method and partially dry-etched in plasma. IZO/Ag grid/IZO structures with different thicknesses and mesh dimensions have been fabricated, exhibiting excellent electrical characteristics (sheet resistance below 10 Ω/□) and particularly high optical transmittance in the near-infrared spectral region as compared to planar (unstructured) TCM multilayers. Numerical simulations were also used to highlight the role of the Ag mesh parameters on the electrical properties. •High-performing micro-structured Transparent Conductive Materials (TCMs) composed of IZO/Ag Mesh/IZO ultra-thin multi-layers.•Low cost, highly-scalable, easy and no thermal budget method of deposition.•High conductivity and NIR transparency of the TCMs make them attractive for bifacial and multi-terminal tandem solar cells.