Enhanced film conductance of silver nanowire-based flexible transparent & conductive networks by bending

Abstract

Bending is usually used to test durability of flexible transparent and conductive films. Due to the large stress incurred by this technique, bending has always been observed to deteriorate conductance of electrodes such as indium tin oxide film. In contrast, we here demonstrate that bending could be used to improve conductance of silver nanowire-based flexible transparent and conductive films. The enhanced conductance is due to improved contact between nanowires, which was favored by the hydrogen bond formed between residential polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) on silver nanowire and TiOx nanoparticles pre-coated on the substrate. The enhanced conductance was found to be affected by bending direction; bending towards the substrate not only yielded quicker decrease in sheet resistance, but also showed better film conductance than bending towards the nanowires. Then, with assistance of surface modification of substrate and ultra-long silver nanowires (averaged at 124 μm, maximum at 438 μm), optoelectronic performance of 90.2% (transmittance at 550 nm) and 12.5 Ω sq−1 (sheet resistance) has been achieved by bending. Such performance was better than commercialized flexible ITO films, and even competed with that obtained from thermal annealing at temperature of 200 °C. Moreover, Fourier transfer infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy study showed strong coordination between C=O (heterocyclic ring of PVP) and silver atoms, showing obvious capping behavior of PVP on silver nanowires.