Bottom-up growth of fully transparent contact layers of indium tin oxide nanowires for light-emitting devices

Thin layers of indium tin oxide are widely used as transparent coatings and electrodes in solar energy cells', flat-panel displays(1,3), antireflection coatings(4), radiation protection(5) and lithium-ion battery materials(6), because they have the characteristics of low resistivity, strong absorption at ultraviolet wavelengths, high transmission in the visible(7), high reflectivity in the far-infrared and strong attenuation in the microwave region. However, there is often a trade-off between electrical conductivity and transparency at visible wavelengths for indium tin oxide and other transparent conducting oxides. Here, we report the growth of layers of indium tin oxide nano-wires that show optimum electronic and photonic properties and demonstrate their use as fully transparent top contacts in the visible to near-infrared region for light-emitting devices.