Growth of Ultralong Ag Nanowires by Electroless Deposition in Hot Ethylene Glycol for Flexible Transparent Conducting Electrodes

Nathaniel De Guzman,Mary Donnabelle L Balela

doi:10.1155/2017/7896094

Nathaniel De Guzman, Mary Donnabelle L Balela

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1155/2017/7896094

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Abstract

High aspect ratio silver (Ag) nanowires with an average length of 25.4 μm and diameter of 102.8 nm were successfully prepared by electroless deposition in hot ethylene glycol (160°C) for 1 h in the presence of PVP. It was found that both PVP concentration and molecular weight significantly influence the morphology and yield of Ag nanowires in solution. Using PVP MW = 55,000, addition of lower amounts of PVP led to formation of large irregularly shaped Ag particles together with a few rod-like structures. Increasing PVP concentration generally resulted in longer and thinner Ag nanowires. On the other hand, low molecular weight PVP produced spherical Ag particles even at high PVP concentration. Ag nanowire flexible transparent conducting electrodes attained a sheet resistance of about 92.5 Ω/sq at an optical transmittance of about 79.6% without any heat treatment. In addition, no significant change in optical and electrical properties was observed after several cycles of bending and adhesion test.

Highlights

Due to the recent advances in technology, materials with high optical transparency and excellent electrical conductivity are being extensively used for many modern optoelectronic devices such as flat-panel televisions, e-readers, smart-phones, smart-glass, liquid crystal displays (LCDs), organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs), solar cells, and touch panel displays [1, 2]
Ultralong Ag nanowires were prepared by electroless deposition in hot ethylene glycol (160∘C) using PVP as structuredirecting agent
Both dimension and yield of Ag nanowires were affected to some degree by the amount and molecular weight of PVP in the solution

Summary

Introduction

Due to the recent advances in technology, materials with high optical transparency and excellent electrical conductivity are being extensively used for many modern optoelectronic devices such as flat-panel televisions, e-readers, smart-phones, smart-glass, liquid crystal displays (LCDs), organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs), solar cells, and touch panel displays [1, 2]. TCOs are transparent due to their large bandgaps (>3 eV), with energy values greater than that of visible light. Phonons with energies below the bandgap are not absorbed by these materials [8] and visible light can pass through which translates to the transparency of the material (>90% at 550 nm). The brittle nature of ITO makes it unsuitable for flexible electronic devices. An applied strain as little as 2-3% can initiate brittle fracture on the ITO film when coated on flexible substrates [10]

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