Silver nanowires (AgNWs) surrounded by insulating poly(vinylpyrrolidone) have been synthesized by a polyol process and employed as transparent electrodes. The AgNW transparent electrodes can be fabricated by heattreatment at about 200 °C which forms connecting junctions between AgNWs. Such a heating process is, however, one of the drawbacks of the fabrication of AgNW electrodes on heat-sensitive substrates. Here it has been demonstrated that the electrical conductivity of AgNW electrodes can be improved by mechanical pressing at 25 MPa for 5 s at room temperature. This simple process results in a low sheet resistance of 8.6 Ω/square and a transparency of 80.0%, equivalent to the properties of the AgNW electrodes heated at 200 °C . This technique makes it possible to fabricate AgNW transparent electrodes on heat-sensitive substrates. The AgNW electrodes on poly(ethylene terephthalate) films exhibited high stability of their electrical conductivities against the repeated bending test. In addition, the surface roughness of the pressed AgNW electrodes is one-third of that of the heat-treated electrode because the AgNW junctions are mechanically compressed. As a result, an organic solar cell fabricated on the pressed AgNW electrodes exhibited a power conversion as much as those fabricated on indium tin oxide electrodes. These findings enable continuous roll-to-roll processing at room temperature, resulting in relatively simple, inexpensive, and scalable processing that is suitable for forthcoming technologies such as organic solar cells, flexible displays, and touch screens.

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Silver nanowires >60 μm have been synthesized using a polyol process without stirring at 130 °C.

The next-generation application of pressure sensors is gradually being extended to include electronic artificial skin (e-skin), wearable devices, humanoid robotics and smart prosthetics. In these advanced applications, high sensing capability is an essential feature for high performance. Although surface patterning treatments and some special elastomeric interlayers have been applied to improve sensitivity, the process is complex and this inevitably raises the cost and is an obstacle to large-scale production. In the present study a simple printing process without complex patterning has been used for constructing the sensor, and an interlayer is employed comprising elastomeric composites filled with silver nanowires. By increasing the relative permittivity, εr, of the composite interlayer induced by compression at high nanowire concentration, it has been possible to achieve a maximum sensitivity of 5.54 kPa(-1). The improvement in sensitivity did not sacrifice or undermine the other features of the sensor. Thanks to the silver nanowire electrodes, the sensor is flexible and stable after 200 cycles at a bending radius of 2 mm, and exhibits outstanding reproducibility without hysteresis under similar pressure pulses. The sensor has been readily integrated onto an adhesive bandage and has been successful in detecting human movements. In addition to measuring pressure in direct contact, non-contact pressures such as air flow can also be detected.

Ultrastrong, transparent, conductive and printable nanocomposites were successfully prepared by mixing single-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl (TEMPO)-oxidized cellulose nanofibrils (TOCNs) with abundant sodium carboxyl groups on the crystalline nanocellulose surfaces. The surface-anionic cellulose nanofibrils had reinforcing and nanodispersing effects on the CNTs both in water used as the dispersed medium and in the dried composite film, providing highly conductive and printable nanocomposites with a small amount of CNTs. TOCNs are therefore expected as an effective flexible matrix that can be used as an alternative to conventional polymers for various electrical materials, when nanocomposited with CNTs and also graphene. Our findings provide a promising route to realize green and flexible electronics.

Large-scale silver nanowire (AgNW) mesh films have received increasing attention as new transparent conductive films used in various printed devices. However, there are two crucial issues in implementing AgNWs that need to be addressed: (1) strong adhesion between AgNW film and substrate and (2) high conductivity with short treatment time for low-cost printed technology. Here, a high-intensity pulsed light (HIPL) sintering technique, which provides extreme heating locally in the AgNW film and at the interface between the film and polymer substrate, sinters the AgNW film to produce high conductivity with strong adhesion on the substrate. Importantly, light intensity, exposure time, and AgNW amount can be adjusted simply to form films that meet specific device needs. A flexible AgNW film with sheet resistance of 19 U sq À1 and transmittance of 83% at 550 nm is obtained with only one-step on a polyethylene terephthalate substrate with a light intensity of 1.14 J cm À2 under an exposure time of only 50 ms. The film can endure multiple peeling tests, which will play an important role in printed electronics.

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