Optical Properties Of Nanostructured Electrodes

A versatile and powerful new lithographic fabrication method has been used to fabricate a number of nano-architectured ordered 2-D indium tin oxide (ITO) and silver (Ag) electrodes. By careful tuning of the dimensions of the nanofeatures in the electrodes, the surface area can be enhanced as desired, in-turn changing resistivity and free carrier concentrations accordingly. Absorption spectra of the samples show the existence of a new optical bandgap, in addition to the bulk bandgap, that is smaller. Nanostructured electrodes show enhanced transparency compared to their planar counterparts and demonstrate typical surface plasmon characteristics. The resonance frequency can be tuned as well by changing the dimensions of the nanofeatures in the electrodes. © 2013 Materials Research Society