Correlated metals as transparent conductors

Lei Zhang; Yuanjun Zhou; Lu Guo; Weiwei Zhao; Anna Barnes; Hai Tian Zhang; Craig Eaton; Yuanxia Zheng; Matthew Brahlek; Hamna F. Haneef; Nikolas J. Podraza; Moses H.W. Chan; Venkatraman Gopalan; Karin M. Rabe; Roman Engel-Herbert

doi:10.1038/nmat4493

Correlated metals as transparent conductors

Lei Zhang, Yuanjun Zhou, Lu Guo, Weiwei Zhao, Anna Barnes, Hai Tian Zhang, Craig Eaton, Yuanxia Zheng, Matthew Brahlek, Hamna F. Haneef, Nikolas J. Podraza, Moses H.W. Chan, Venkatraman Gopalan, Karin M. Rabe, Roman Engel-Herbert

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

310 Scopus citations

Abstract

The fundamental challenge for designing transparent conductors used in photovoltaics, displays and solid-state lighting is the ideal combination of high optical transparency and high electrical conductivity. Satisfying these competing demands is commonly achieved by increasing carrier concentration in a wide-bandgap semiconductor with low effective carrier mass through heavy doping, as in the case of tin-doped indium oxide (ITO). Here, an alternative design strategy for identifying high-conductivity, high-transparency metals is proposed, which relies on strong electron-electron interactions resulting in an enhancement in the carrier effective mass. This approach is experimentally verified using the correlated metals SrVO₃ and CaVO₃, which, despite their high carrier concentration (>2.2 × 10²² cm^-3), have low screened plasma energies (<1.33 eV), and demonstrate excellent performance when benchmarked against ITO. A method is outlined to rapidly identify other candidates among correlated metals, and strategies are proposed to further enhance their performance, thereby opening up new avenues to develop transparent conductors.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	204-210
Number of pages	7
Journal	Nature Materials
Volume	15
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat4493
State	Published - Feb 1 2016
Externally published	Yes

Funding

We gratefully acknowledge support by the Office of Naval Research through Grant No. N00014-11-1-0665 (L.Z., Y.Z., C.E., L.G., K.M.R., V.G., R.E.-H.), the National Science Foundation through the Penn State MRSEC Program DMR-1420620 (H.-T.Z., W.Z., M.H.W.C.) and Grant No. DMR-1352502 (L.Z., R.E.-H.), the Department of Energy through Grant DE-SC0012375 (M.B., R.E.-H.), the University of Toledo start up funds and the Ohio Department of Development (ODOD) Ohio Research Scholar Program entitled Northwest Ohio Innovators in Thin Film Photovoltaics, Grant No. TECH 09-025 (A.B., H.F.H., N.P.). We thank R. Averitt for stimulating discussions.

Funders	Funder number
Penn State MRSEC	DMR-1420620
National Science Foundation
Office of Naval Research
Ohio Department of Development
University of Toledo

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1038/nmat4493

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abstract = "The fundamental challenge for designing transparent conductors used in photovoltaics, displays and solid-state lighting is the ideal combination of high optical transparency and high electrical conductivity. Satisfying these competing demands is commonly achieved by increasing carrier concentration in a wide-bandgap semiconductor with low effective carrier mass through heavy doping, as in the case of tin-doped indium oxide (ITO). Here, an alternative design strategy for identifying high-conductivity, high-transparency metals is proposed, which relies on strong electron-electron interactions resulting in an enhancement in the carrier effective mass. This approach is experimentally verified using the correlated metals SrVO3 and CaVO3, which, despite their high carrier concentration (>2.2 × 1022 cm-3), have low screened plasma energies (<1.33 eV), and demonstrate excellent performance when benchmarked against ITO. A method is outlined to rapidly identify other candidates among correlated metals, and strategies are proposed to further enhance their performance, thereby opening up new avenues to develop transparent conductors.",

author = "Lei Zhang and Yuanjun Zhou and Lu Guo and Weiwei Zhao and Anna Barnes and Zhang, {Hai Tian} and Craig Eaton and Yuanxia Zheng and Matthew Brahlek and Haneef, {Hamna F.} and Podraza, {Nikolas J.} and Chan, {Moses H.W.} and Venkatraman Gopalan and Rabe, {Karin M.} and Roman Engel-Herbert",

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AU - Zheng, Yuanxia

AU - Brahlek, Matthew

AU - Haneef, Hamna F.

AU - Podraza, Nikolas J.

AU - Chan, Moses H.W.

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AU - Rabe, Karin M.

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Correlated metals as transparent conductors

Abstract

Funding

UN SDGs

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