Flexible multilayered transparent electrodes with less than 50 nm thickness using nitrogen-doped silver layers for flexible heaters

Abstract

In this study, Al-doped ZnO/Ag/Al-doped ZnO multilayered electrodes are fabricated on a colorless polyimide substrate through an optimized nitrogen insertion technique, and subsequently applied to transparent flexible thin film heaters. The resulting electrodes have remarkable performance and durability. A completely continuous and smooth Ag thin film with extremely small thickness is fabricated by optimizing the N2 gas flow rates at room temperature. The multilayered films exhibit a high optical transmittance of 96.0% at a wavelength of 550 nm and low sheet resistance of 8.5 Ω sq.−1. The bending test results show that there is no significant change in the sheet resistance even after 5,000 bending cycles, highlighting their mechanical flexibility. For its application in transparent flexible heaters, the performance of the multilayered films exceeds that of conventional ITO-based films, as confirmed by their higher saturation temperatures and flexibility, indicating their outstanding thermal properties and high conductivity with small thickness.