Ultrathin
silver nanowires (UTAgNWs) are indispensable to achieve
transparent conductive films (TCFs) with overall optoelectronic performance
exceeding that of the state-of-the-art indium tin oxide films. Impurities
in raw UTAgNW products severely impair the optical properties of TCFs.
Unfortunately, highly effective and environment-friendly approaches
for purification of UTAgNWs are still lacking. Herein, we report the
purification of UTAgNWs using deionized water along with a small amount
of surfactants as the purifying agent. TCFs coated with the purified
UTAgNWs exhibit a light transmittance of 97.9% and a haze of 1.22%
at a sheet resistance of 36.3 Ω sq–1 or a
light transmittance of 99.8% and a haze of 0.47% at a sheet resistance
of 187.3 Ω sq–1. Both the transmittance and
the haze are among the best reported values for AgNW TCFs in the literature.
The purification process does not involve any toxic or hazardous chemicals
and is both scalable and cost-effective.
Stretchable and flexible electronics built from multifunctional fibres are essential for devices in human-machine interactions, human motion monitoring and personal healthcare. However, the combination of stable heating and precision sensing...
Transparent
conductive film (TCF) fabricated with silver nanowires
(AgNWs) is one of the most promising candidates to replace the state-of-the-art
indium tin oxide films as electrodes in next generation flexible displays.
The adhesion of AgNWs on a substrate is one of the key limiting factors
that influence the yield and quality of downstream products. Inserting
an adhesive interlayer between the substrate and AgNWs complicates
the fabrication process and may worsen the uniformity of the films.
Herein, we report a self-adhesive coating ink that can realize tight
adhesion of AgNWs on the substrate. The ink consists of AgNWs and
sodium alginate. TCFs coated with the ink exhibit a strong adhesion
on the substrate, and no delamination is observed after peeling with
3 M tape, long-time immersion in a solvent, ultrasonicating in a water
bath, or multiple bending to a small radius. The optoelectronic performance
of TCFs after the aforementioned treatments remains constant and is
superior to those reported in the literature. The self-adhesive coating
ink makes delamination-free AgNW TCFs possible.
The ability to fabricate electrothermal actuators (ETAs) simultaneously featuring ultrafast response speed (within 0.1 s), large deformation (bending for at least 360°), high figure‐of‐merit (FoM, larger than 0.1%), and low driving voltage (smaller than 1 V) in a single device is extremely important and challenging for their applications in artificial muscles, switches, and microsensors for robotics and biomimetic devices. Herein, an ETA composed of a silver nanowire (AgNW) layer and an ultrathin linear low‐density polyethylene (LLDPE) film with all the aforementioned features is designed. Due to the high conductivity of the AgNW layer and the great difference between the coefficients of thermal expansion of AgNW layer and LLDPE film as well as the huge change in the heat transfer coefficient between flat and rolled ETA, the obtained ETA exhibits an ultrafast response speed of 0.08 s for a bending angle of 360° with a FoM of 0.46% at a low driving voltage of 1 V, over one order of magnitude larger than those of reported ETAs. As a proof‐of‐concept application, the as‐prepared ETAs can be used as intelligent mechanical devices with excellent performance.
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