Sandwich-Structured Silver Nanowire Transparent Conductive Films with 3H Hardness and Robust Flexibility for Potential Applications in Curved Touch Screens

Abstract

A sandwich-structured bottom hard-coat/silver nanowire/top hard-coat (BHC/AgNW/THC) transparent conductive film (TCF) has been prepared by embedding the functional AgNW layer between two HC layers. The BHC/AgNW/THC TCFs show high scratch resistance with a hardness of 3H due to the enhanced adhesion to the substrate. In addition, the BHC/AgNW/THC TCFs exhibit a transmittance of 90.6% and a haze of 1% at 550 nm under a sheet resistance of 72 Ω/sq. Furthermore, highly enhanced long-term stability has been guaranteed by the HC layers due to their excellent gas barrier property. The amazing fact is that hard coating has little effect on the flexibility of AgNW films especially under extreme bending conditions and negligible resistance change could be observed after bending over thousands of times. Consequently, the greatly improved performance of BHC/AgNW/THC TCFs provided by employing hard coating layers paves the way for real-world applications of flexible AgNWs in vast areas that rigid indium tin oxide is not suitable.

Preparation of Nano Silver Paste and Applications in Transparent Electrodes via Electric-Field Driven Micro-Scale 3D Printing

“…With the rapid development of electronic information technology, the demand for flexible and stretchable electronics, electromagnetic shielding, radio frequency identification systems, electronic packaging and interconnections, solar cells, and so forth is increasing rapidly. As a key functional material of such electronic components, electronic paste has attracted extensive attention in its development and application fields [1][2][3][4][5]. At present, the most commonly used materials for the preparation of electronic pastes are conductive polymers [6,7], metal nanoparticles [8][9][10], carbon nanotubes, and graphene [11][12][13][14].…”

Benefits, Problems, and Solutions of Silver Nanowire Transparent Conductive Electrodes in Indium Tin Oxide (ITO)‐Free Flexible Solar Cells

“…[132] Transparent Polymers: Another approach for flattening the AgNW network is to apply a transparent polymer. [168][169][170][171] The polymer overcoat layers should be optically transparent and flexible, and ideally below 150 nm in thickness. In addition, other parameters such as high mechanical strength, sufficient hardness, high thermal stability, and light stability play an important role.…”

“…Transparent Polymer: Some transparent polymers that have been successfully used as protective layers to reduce or prevent silver oxidation are, PEDOT:PSS, [170] modified chitosan polymer, [168] biocompatible chitosan (Chi) complex, [169] acrylic resin, [171] and polyethoxysiloxane (PES). [209] Polymers may not be suitable as protective layers for long-term stability, however, due to their degradation and water absorption behavior; furthermore, they cannot play a dual role as a thermal stabilizer and corrosion inhibitor.…”

“…Further insulating polymers, such as modified chitosan polymer, [ 168 ] biocompatible chitosan (Chi) complex, [ 169 ] and acrylic resin, [ 171 ] have been reported to reduce the roughness of the AgNW network. It is worth mentioning that a thicker polymer layer induces a lower surface roughness, but when the thickness exceeds 150 nm, the negative influence on the conductivity of AgNW networks becomes significant.…”

Flexible and Transparent Silver Nanowires Integrated with a Graphene Layer-Doping PEDOT:PSS Film for Detection of Hydrogen Sulfide

“…Carbon nanotubes (CNT) and graphene (GR) had received intense attention in the area of carbon nanomaterial FTCF. , Although metal FTCFs mainly include a metal mesh, sputtered metal film, metal nanowire film, the high production cost of the metal mesh and sputtered metal film limits their application. − Accordingly, silver nanowires (AgNWs) have been a research hotspot in flexible transparent conductive films of metal nanowires because the AgNW FTCF with excellent conductivity and high transmittance can be achieved by a simple coating and it is likely to realize large-scale economizing production. The AgNW FTCF can be used in solar cells, light-emitting devices, touch screens, and sensors. ,− For sensor applications, AgNWs can be used for displacement sensing, mechanical sensing, sound sensing, humidity sensing, etc., and these require AgNW sensing devices that can generate large responses in a short time. − Currently, the materials used for gas detection are mainly metal oxide semiconductor materials, and these materials usually work at high temperatures; therefore, it is urgent to look for a flexible and transparent material for gas detection at room temperature …”