Transparent Conductors for Photoelectric Devices

Transparent conductors are commonly used in photoelectric devices, where the electric energy converts to light energy or vice versa. Energy consumption devices, such as LEDs, Displays, Lighting devices use the electrical energy to generate light by carrier recombination. Meanwhile, solar cell is the only device to generate electric energy from the incident photon. Most photoelectric devices require a transparent electrode to pass the light in or out from a device. Beyond the passive role, transparent conductors can be employed to form Schottky junction or heterojunction to establish a rectifying current flow. Transparent conductor-embedded heterojunction device provides significant advantages of transparent electrode formation, no need for intentional doping process, and enhanced light-reactive surface area. Herein, we present versatile applications of transparent conductors, such as NiO, ZnO, ITO in photoelectric devices of solar cells and photodetectors for high-performing UV or IR detection. Moreover, we also introduce the growth of transparent ITO nanowires by sputtering methods for large scale application.