Flexible Short-Wave Infrared Transparent Electrode Based on Broadband Induced Transmission Mechanism

We present a new strategy to produce high performance flexible transparent electrode based on broadband induced transmission. The mechanism allows metal layer to achieve broadband transparency while maintaining high conductivity simultaneously, overcoming the drawback of low infrared transmittance in conventional transparent conductors. To demonstrate this concept, a simple tri-layer structure has been fabricated to produce a short-wave infrared (SWIR) transparent electrode with high transmittance and conductivity simultaneously. The experimental results show that the SWIR transparent electrode has average transmittance of 80% and sheet resistance as low as 8.5 Ω/sq, with huge advantage in terms of transmittance bandwidth. The typical infrared imaging result shows that the Michelson contrast is 1.6 times better than that of ITO. Such an infrared transparent electrode can be produced on large scale by using mature technology. It paves a way for the design of high performance infrared transparent electrode and has significant application potentials for infrared optoelectronics devices, including near infrared solar cells, flexible smart display screen and micro spectrometers.