Enhanced electrical conductivity in Xe ion irradiated CNT based transparent conducting electrode on PET substrate

An investigation of MWCNT-based hybrid electrode films with improved electrical conductivity after Xe ion irradiation is reported. A multilayer hybrid structure of Ag-MWCNT layer embedded in between two ZnO layers was fabricated and evaluated, pre and post 100 keV Xe ion irradiation, for their performance as Transparent Conducting Electrode in terms of their optical and electrical properties. X-ray diffraction pattern exhibits highly c-axis oriented ZnO films with a small variation in lattice parameters with an increase in ion fluence. There is no significant change in the surface roughness of these films. Raman spectra were used to confirm the presence of CNT. The pristine multilayer films exhibit an average transmittance of ∼70% in the entire visible region and the transmittance increases with Xe ion fluence. A significant enhancement in electrical conductivity post-Xe ion irradiation viz from 1.14 × 10⁻⁷ Ω⁻¹ cm⁻¹ (pristine) to 7.04 × 10³ Ω⁻¹ cm⁻¹ is seen which is due to the high connectivity in the top layer with Ag-CNT hybrid layer facilitating the smooth transfer of electrons. (paper)