Alternative transparent conducting electrode materials for flexible optoelectronic devices

Transparent Conductive Electrode (TCE) is an essential part of the optoelectronic and display devices such as Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs), Solar Cells, Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs), Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLEDs) and touch screens. Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) is a commonly used TCE in these devices because of its high transparency and low sheet resistance. However, scarcity of indium and brittle nature of ITO limit its use in future flexible electronics. In order to develop flexible optoelectronic devices with improved performance, there is a requirement of replacing the ITO with a better alternate TCE. In this work, several alternative TCEs including transparent conductive oxides, carbon nanotubes, conducting polymers, metal nanowires, graphene and composites of these materials are studied with their properties such as sheet resistance, transparency and flexibility. The advantage and current challenges of these materials are also presented in this work. (C) 2018 Association of Polish Electrical Engineers (SEP). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.