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Vol. 13 (2021)

Dopant-Tunable Ultrathin Transparent Conductive Oxides for Efficient Energy Conversion Devices

https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-021-00735-y
Dae Yun Kang
School of Electrical Engineering, Korea University, Seoul 02841, Republic of Korea
Bo‑Hyun Kim
Department of Advanced Materials Engineering, Kongju National University, Cheonan 31080, Republic of Korea
Tae Ho Lee
School of Electrical Engineering, Korea University, Seoul 02841, Republic of Korea
Jae Won Shim
School of Electrical Engineering, Korea University, Seoul 02841, Republic of Korea
Sungmin Kim
School of Electrical Engineering, Korea University, Seoul 02841, Republic of Korea
Ha‑Jun Sung
Department of Physics, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea
Kee Joo Chang
Department of Physics, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon 34141, Republic of Korea
Tae Geun Kim
School of Electrical Engineering, Korea University, Seoul 02841, Republic of Korea

Corresponding Author: Tae Geun Kim

tgkim1@korea.ac.kr

Nano-Micro Letters, Vol. 13 (2021), Article Number: 211

Abstract

Ultrathin film-based transparent conductive oxides (TCOs) with a broad work function (WF) tunability are highly demanded for efficient energy conversion devices. However, reducing the film thickness below 50 nm is limited due to rapidly increasing resistance; furthermore, introducing dopants into TCOs such as indium tin oxide (ITO) to reduce the resistance decreases the transparency due to a trade-off between the two quantities. Herein, we demonstrate dopant-tunable ultrathin (≤ 50 nm) TCOs fabricated via electric field-driven metal implantation (m-TCOs; m = Ni, Ag, and Cu) without compromising their innate electrical and optical properties. The m-TCOs exhibit a broad WF variation (0.97 eV), high transmittance in the UV to visible range (89–93% at 365 nm), and low sheet resistance (30–60 Ω cm−2). Experimental and theoretical analyses show that interstitial metal atoms mainly affect the change in the WF without substantial losses in optical transparency. The m-ITOs are employed as anode or cathode electrodes for organic light-emitting diodes (LEDs), inorganic UV LEDs, and organic photovoltaics for their universal use, leading to outstanding performances, even without hole injection layer for OLED through the WF-tailored Ni-ITO. These results verify the proposed m-TCOs enable effective carrier transport and light extraction beyond the limits of traditional TCOs.


Highlights:


1 Dopant-tunable transparent conductive oxide (≤ 50 nm) fabricated via electric-field-driven metal implantation (m-TCOs; m= Ni, Ag, and Cu) is demonstrated.
2 The m-TCOs exhibit ultrahigh transparency, low sheet resistance, and broad work function tunability, leading to outstanding performance in various optoelectronic devices.
3 The work function change is attributed to the interstitial metal atoms that provide the empty d-orbital, resulting in the shift of the Fermi level.

Keywords

Transparent conductive oxide Metal implantation High transparency Low sheet resistance Work function
Kang, Dae Yun, Bo‑Hyun Kim, Tae Ho Lee, Jae Won Shim, Sungmin Kim, Ha‑Jun Sung, Kee Joo Chang, and Tae Geun Kim. 2021. “Dopant-Tunable Ultrathin Transparent Conductive Oxides for Efficient Energy Conversion Devices”. Nano-Micro Letters 13 (October):211. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-021-00735-y.
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