their use in large-scale applications. [2] Thus, a second generation of solar cells based on other inorganic materials, such as cadmium telluride (CdTe)/cadmium indium gallium diselenide (CIGS), have been developed; however, their practical applications are restricted by the toxi city and scarcity of the materials, along with their high production cost. [3,4] Consequently, OSCs, dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), [5,6] and perovskite solar cells (PSCs) [7-9] have been developed, which are considered as third-generation SCs. Among the solar cells of the third generation, OSCs received significant attention due to their flexibility, low cost, and ease of fabrication, [10] which combined with their high efficiency, significantly contribute to the commercialization of FOSCs. Mass production of flexible OSCs is possible by using a roll-to-roll process, which enables the fabrication of wearable devices. [11,12] Potential applications of FOSCs include wearable devices, [13] space applications, [14] rechargeable bags and tents, and solar airships. One of the main components for fabricating FOSCs is TCEs, which play a key role in achieving high-performance OSCs, where current and light transmissions are simultaneously enabled. [15] Generally, the following characteristics are required for achieving a high-performance transparent electrode: [16-18] 1) high optical transmittance for permitting photons to reach and be absorbed within the active layer; 2) low sheet resistance for decreasing the resistance of solar cells; 3) low surface roughness for avoiding electrical shortage In this review, silver nanowires (AgNWs) are introduced, as the primary material to replace indium tin oxide for fabricating cost-effective flexible organic solar cells (FOSCs), because of their remarkable solution-processing, flexibility, transparency, and conductivity, along with their enhanced properties in terms of light-scattering, plasmonic effects, and transmittance in the near infrared region. The drawbacks of AgNWs, particularly their high roughness, low adhesion to substrates, atmospheric corrosion, degradation under UV and visible light, and poor contact at wire-wire junctions, must be resolved prior to their use in commercial FOSCs applications. Herein, comparisons among all candidates (e.g., graphene, carbon nanotubes, metal grids, and conducting polymers), along with a report of all recent progress in addressing these issues for using AgNWs as flexible transparent conductive electrodes (TCEs), are discussed. In addition, recent publications on the fabrication of highly efficient FOSCs based on AgNWs are summarized. The discussed issues regarding AgNWs-TCEs apply not only to FOSCs, but can be generalized for other third-generation solar cells, such as perovskite solar cells and dye-sensitized solar cells; additionally, they provide insight for other optoelectronic applications, such as organic light-emitting diodes, liquid crystal displays, smart windows, touch panels, and heaters.

One-dimensional conductive polymers are attractive materials because of their potential in flexible and transparent electronics. Despite years of research, on the macro- and nano-scale, structural disorder represents the major hurdle in achieving high conductivities. Here we report measurements of highly ordered metal-organic nanoribbons, whose intrinsic (defect-free) conductivity is found to be 104 S m−1, three orders of magnitude higher than that of our macroscopic crystals. This magnitude is preserved for distances as large as 300 nm. Above this length, the presence of structural defects (~ 0.5%) gives rise to an inter-fibre-mediated charge transport similar to that of macroscopic crystals. We provide the first direct experimental evidence of the gapless electronic structure predicted for these compounds. Our results postulate metal-organic molecular wires as good metallic interconnectors in nanodevices.

In this study, the outstanding ability of the coordination polymer [Pt 2 (nBuCS 2 ) 4 I] n (nBu ¼ n-butyl) (1) to reversibly self-organize from solution was demonstrated. This feature allowed us to generate highly electrical conductive structures located upon demand on technologically relevant surfaces, by easy-tohandle and low cost micromolding in capillaries (MIMIC) and lithographically controlled wetting (LCW). Electrical characterization reveals a near Ohmic behaviour and a high stability of the stripes (in air). Electrodes produced by the MIMIC technique from a solution of compound 1 demonstrated that this material can be efficiently used as electrodes for organic field-effect transistors (OFETs).

Four samples of transparent conductive films with different numbers of silver nanorings per unit area were produced. The sheet resistance, transparency, and haze were measured for each sample. Using Monte Carlo simulation, we studied the electrical conductivity of random resistor networks produced by the random deposition of the conducting rings onto the substrate. Both systems of equal-sized rings, and systems with rings of different sizes were simulated. Our simulations demonstrated the linear dependence of the electrical conductivity on the number of rings per unit area. Size dispersity decreased the percolation threshold, but without having any other significant effect on the behavior of the electrical conductance. Analytical estimations obtained for dense systems of equal-sized conductive rings were consistent with the simulations.

The present study is aimed at elucidating the factors that direct the assembly of a specific family of AuI species. The assembly of AuI centers and dithiocarboxylato or xanthato ligands results in a surprising structural diversity observed by single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction. However, in solution, just evidences for discrete bimetallic [Au2L2] species have been observed. Interestingly, when dithiocarboxylato ligands have been used, a reversible supramolecular assembly has been observed forming the supramolecules of formulae [Au2L2]2 and [Au2L2]3. Initial studies on luminescent properties have been carried out at variable temperature. All the compounds show red emissions in the solid state at very similar energies, suggesting that the intramolecular interactions play a more relevant role in the luminescent properties than the intermolecular ones. The computational studies indicate that not only Au⋅⋅⋅Au interactions, but also Au⋅⋅⋅S and S⋅⋅⋅S ones play a role in the structure and energetic of the supramolecular species, as well as for the choice between supramolecular association or intramolecular oligomerization.

Simple solvothermal method was used to synthesize of uniform silver nanowires with the controllable diameter (17, 20, 35, 70 and 100 nm). It is the first report on the solvothermal synthesis of ultra‐thin silver nanowires (17 nm) with the high aspect ratio (>1000). Knowing silver nanowires diameter, length and yield after synthesis are a critical step to classify them for the final goal. Up to now, although the length of nanowires can be measured with the optical microscope, but to estimate the diameter, costly high‐resolution microscopic techniques are necessary. Herein, UV/Vis spectroscopy as an easy and cost‐effective tool is introduced to evaluate the diameter and yield of nanowires. For this purpose, after synthesis and purification of silver different nanowires; from their UV/Vis spectra, a new equation for evaluation nanowires diameter was extracted. In addition, for the first time, absorption coefficients (ϵ) of nanowires with different diameter thickness were reported and a new equation to estimate absorption coefficients to calculate concentration (mg/ml) and yield of silver nanowires was extracted. These equations have good agreement with real data and are independent of the length of nanowires.

Highly stable graphene suspensions in pure organic solvents, including volatile solvents such as ethanol, tetrahydrofurane, chloroform, acetone or toluene have been prepared by re-dispersion of a graphene-powder. Such re-dispersable solid is produced by precipitation or solvent elimination from graphene suspensions obtained by sonication of graphite in several organic solvent-water mixtures. Re-dispersion is feasible in a wide range of pure organic solvents, obtaining high quality few-layers graphene flakes stable in suspension for months. As a proof-of-concept, on-glass spray deposition of some of these suspensions, e.g. ethanol or tetrahydrofuran, results on electrically conductive transparent coatings. These results suggest industrial potential use of the scalable technology here developed to fabricate low-cost devices with many different potential applications.

Herein, we provide a systematic theoretical and experimental study of the structural and optical properties of MMX (M=metal, X=halide) chains. The influence of solvent, temperature, and concentration has been analyzed to find suitable parameters for initial building-block associations in solution. By using density functional calculations, we have computed the dissociation energy of different MMX oligomers (up to the tetramer) in the gas phase. On the basis of these findings, we discuss the most likely disassembly scenario and propose a new interpretation of these compounds. We also calculated the charge redistribution that occurs upon MM+XMMX binding in vacuum. Time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) is used to calculate the UV/visible spectra of different MMX chains up to the tetramer in the gas phase. The implications of these theoretical findings in the analysis of our experiments are discussed in the text. The overall body of data presented suggests a new way of looking at such linear structures. By taking into account these new data, we have been able to isolate single/few MMX chains on mica.