On-surface formation of metal nanowire transparent top electrodes on CdSe nanowire array-based photoconductive devices

A simple wet chemical approach was developed for a unique on-surface synthesis of transparent conductive films consisting of ultrathin gold/silver nanowires directly grown on top of CdSe nanowire array photoconductive devices enclosed in polycarbonate membranes. The metal nanowire film formed an ohmic contact to the semiconductor nanowires without additional treatment. The sheet resistance and transparency of the metal nanowire arrays could be controlled by the number of metal nanowire layers deposited, ranging from ∼98–99% transmission through the visible range and several kOhm/sq sheet resistance for a single layer, to 80–85% transmission and ∼100 Ohm/sq sheet resistance for 4 layers.