Template‐Electrodeposited and Imprint‐Transferred Microscale Metal‐Mesh Transparent Electrodes for Flexible and Stretchable Electronics

Abstract

A scalable fabrication strategy is reported for the solution‐based electrochemical fabrication of microscale metal meshes from reusable, non‐sacrificial templates. This approach enables the reproducible fabrication of meshes, potentially made of any electrochemically depositable metal and transferable to a variety of polymeric substrates. Unlike other existing approaches, this benchtop method repetitively mass‐produces metal meshes whose geometric features are predefined by a template, without requiring lithography or any vacuum processes in each production cycle. Using this technique, a number of prototype‐flexible and stretchable transparent electrodes with an embedded metal mesh with micro‐sized linewidths are demonstrated with transmittance as high as 90% and sheet resistance as low as 0.036 Ω□−1, corresponding to a high figure of merit of 3.4 × 104 at 4 μm mesh linewidth, and the electrodeposition template showed no degradation after at least 20 production cycles. In addition to outstanding optical and electrical performances, the resulting electrodes show excellent mechanical robustness and stability against chemicals and harsh environment. The electrodes are further tested in flexible bifacial dye‐sensitized solar cells and stretchable transparent thin‐film heaters, confirming their suitability and reliability for practical applications.

Transparent Heaters: A Review

“…This efficient defrosting device successfully withstood an ultra‐sonication test, as well as many defrosting cycles. [ 82 ] Metallic mesh networks have been the subject of many studies lately, with various metallic species being evaluated, like copper, [ 148 ] silver, [ 149,150 ] nickel, [ 151 ] cupronickel, [ 115 ] gold [ 152 ] and platinum. [ 72 ]…”

Fabrication of circuits by multi-nozzle electrohydrodynamic inkjet printing for soft wearable electronics

“…However, additional experiments are needed to examine the failure phenomenon of these printed metal films applying different bending forces and their influences on the ultimate performance of the resulting soft wearable devices. The metallic conductors are brittle which means their maximum tolerance to strain is extremely low [42][43][44]. To address this issue and enhance the stretchability of our printed silver circuits, we implement the substrate prestrain strategy in our experiments.…”

Vacuum-Free Fabrication of Transparent Electrodes for Soft Electronics

“…The data was acquired from the literature. [15] The dashed lines represent typical industrial standard (green line) and minimum industrial standard (red line). [40].…”

“…For example, metal meshes are embedded and mechanically anchored into the soft polymer substrates, which significantly enhanced its adhesion with the substrate and as a result improves its mechanical stability under deformation. [15,16,42] In addition to the mechanical stability of the TEs, the intrinsic mechanical stability of the other functional materials are equally important concerning the successful operations of the soft electronic devices.…”

“…Thus, researchers have developed novel TE materials and vacuum-free approaches for its fabrication to substitute the TCOs. [15,16] Novel intrinsically transparent materials including graphene, [17] carbon nanotubes (CNTs), [18] and conducting polymers [19,20] have been explored to replace the TCOs. Besides, other promising class of soft TEs designed from metals are widely employed due to their excellent electrical, optical, and mechanical performance.…”