The optical transmittance of the circular and square silver nanowire networks with different surrounding dielectric environments is systematically investigated. Key parameters determining the plasmonic effect of the silver nanowires are identified and compared with the change of the nanowire density, the nanowire shape, the substrate materials, and the dielectric embedding materials. The total transmittance as a function of the sheet resistance of the nanowire networks for each case is evaluated. It is revealed that while the sheet resistance of the circular nanowire networks is maintained the same as that of the square networks, the optical transmittance in the former case is increased by up to 3% for the networks on glass, 15% on Si and 13% on Si covered with a 75 nm thick SiNx layer. These results give an improved guidance on the future design of the networks for various photovoltaic applications.
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