We show that perforated metal electrode arrays, fabricated using nanosphere
lithography, provide a viable alternative to conductive metal oxides as
transparent electrode materials. The inter-aperture spacing is tuned by
varying etching times in an oxygen plasma, and the effect of inter-aperture
“wire” thickness on the optical and electronic properties of perforated silver
films is shown. Optical transmission is limited by reflection and surface
plasmons, and for these results do not exceed 73%. Electrical sheet resistance
is shown to be as low as 3 Ω ◻−1 for thermally evaporated silver films. The
performance of organic photovoltaic devices comprised of a P3HT:PCBM bulk
heterojunction deposited onto perforated metal arrays is shown to be limited
by optical transmission, and a simple model is presented to overcome these
limitations