A hybrid trilayered transparent conducting electrode (TCE) based on graphene oxide (GO) in the form of GO/Ag/GO multilayer synthesized using GO suspension in water and polyethylene glycol (PEG) is investigated for their suitability as TCE. The GO layers prepared from modified Hummer’s method were suspended in water and EG solution separately and spin coated on a glass substrate. Ag film (~ 8 nm) was DC sputtered coated on these films before a second spin coat of GO layer to prepare two variants of trilayered structure (GO/Ag/GO). AFM/SEM images verified the smooth surface topology. Structural analysis by Raman spectroscopy showed shifting and broadening of GO peak, which represents defects/disorder with obtained ID/IG ratio as 0.70 and 0.98 for EG and DI water-based trilayered structure, respectively. Hall measurements concluded superior electrical and optical properties; with an average transmittance of ~ 75% in visible region, sheet resistance Rs = 24.43 Ω/sq, and high charge carrier concentration (n = 2.11 × 1022 cm−3) in films prepared with GO suspension in EG. The other combination prepared with DI water showed transmittance of ~ 73% and sheet resistance of 34.73 Ω/sq. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy technique was further used to determine quantitative and chemical state information of elements by depth profile measurement of the trilayer electrode.

Nature-inspired structures as transparent conducting electrodes are exciting alternatives to conventional TCEs because they provide higher transmittance and conductivity at low temperatures on flexible substrates. The current work is focussed to develop a metal mesh structure with the help of plant leaf vein as a template. Bilayer metal mesh of thickness < 100 nm was deposited and transferred to flexible plastic substrate at room temperature. Scanning electron microscopy images were used to obtain the ratio of open area space and covered space of the electrodes. The bilayer metal mesh structure shows high optical transmittance (>85%) and electrical resistivity of the order of 10(-4) Omega cm. The metal mesh TCE based on leaf vein template opens up new ways of obtaining large charge transfer resolving the junction resistance problem encountered in case of metal nanowires. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Multilayer thin films of SnO2/Ag/SnO2 were prepared on silicon and quartz substrates by electron beam and thermal evaporation method for the SnO2 and Ag layer respectively. As prepared specimen were irradiated with 120 MeV Ni7+ ions of two fluences of 1x10(12) and 5x10(12) ions /cm(2) to modify the structural and optical properties. These films were then systematically investigated to observe the modifications produced in the multilayer films. XRD was used for structural investigation which shows crystallinity induced by irradiation in the otherwise amorphous samples. FTIR results reveal the presence of functional groups with stretching and bending vibration. The average transmittance of the pristine multilayer film was similar to 73% which shows a slight increase on irradiation. Peak positions in Raman spectra are indicative of strain in the irradiated sample. A decrease in grain size is observed after irradiation.