A solution-processed molybdenum oxide treated silver nanowire network: a highly conductive transparent conducting electrode with superior mechanical and hole injection properties

Abstract

We demonstrate the fabrication of solution-processed MoO_x-treated (s-MoO_x) silver nanowire (AgNW) transparent conductive electrodes (TCEs) utilizing low-temperature (sub-100 °C) processes. The s-MoO_x aggregates around the AgNW and forms gauze-like MoO_x thin films between the mesh, which can effectively lower the sheet resistance by more than two orders of magnitude. Notably, these s-MoO_x-treated AgNW TCEs exhibit a combination of several promising characteristics, such as a high and broad transmittance across a wavelength range of 400 to 1000 nm, transmission of up to 96.8%, a low sheet resistance of 29.8 ohm sq⁻¹, a low haze value of 0.90%, better mechanical properties against bending and adhesion tests, and preferable gap states for efficient hole injection in optoelectronic applications. By utilizing these s-MoO_x-treated AgNW TCEs as the anode in ITO-free organic light emitting diodes, promising performance of 29.2 lm W⁻¹ and 10.3% external quantum efficiency are demonstrated. The versatile, multi-functional s-MoO_x treatment presented here paves the way for the use of low-temperature, solution-processed MoO_x as both a nanowire linker and a hole injection interfacial layer for future flexible optoelectronic devices.