Novel Hybrid Conductor of Irregularly Patterned Graphene Mesh and Silver Nanowire Networks.

Hiesang Sohn,Se Kim,Jong-Min Oh,Chulhwan Park,Taek Lee,Weon Shin,Anusorn Seubsai,Dohyeong Seok

doi:10.3390/mi11060578

Hiesang Sohn, Se Kim + Show 6 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/mi11060578

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Abstract

We prepared the hybrid conductor of the Ag nanowire (NW) network and irregularly patterned graphene (GP) mesh with enhanced optical transmittance (~98.5%) and mechano-electric stability (ΔR/Ro: ~42.4% at 200,000 (200k) cycles) under 6.7% strain. Irregularly patterned GP meshes were prepared with a bottom-side etching method using chemical etchant (HNO3). The GP mesh pattern was judiciously and easily tuned by the regulation of treatment time (0–180 min) and concentration (0–20 M) of chemical etchants. As-formed hybrid conductor of Ag NW and GP mesh exhibit enhanced/controllable electrical-optical properties and mechano-electric stabilities; hybrid conductor exhibits enhanced optical transmittance (TT = 98.5%) and improved conductivity (ΔRs: 22%) compared with that of a conventional hybrid conductor at similar TT. It is also noteworthy that our hybrid conductor shows far superior mechano-electric stability (ΔR/Ro: ~42.4% at 200k cycles; TT: ~98.5%) to that of controls (Ag NW (ΔR/Ro: ~293% at 200k cycles), Ag NW-pristine GP hybrid (ΔR/Ro: ~121% at 200k cycles)) ascribed to our unique hybrid structure.

Highlights

Owing to growing demand of the modern electronic devices including smart phones, touch screens, and light-emitting displays, there have been massive demands on the transparent conductive electrodes (TCEs) and TCE materials (e.g., indium tin oxide (ITO)) [1,2,3,4]
Hybrid transparent conducting films of silver nanowires (Ag NW) and irregularly patterned graphene (GP) mesh were prepared by bottom-etching of GP followed by hybridization with Ag NWs) networks, as illustrated in Figure 1A [9,11]
After Cu removal, the bottom of polycrystalline GP/PMMA bilayer was etched by placing the film on an etchant solution (HNO3) with a controlled concentration and time to form irregular patterns on GP (Figure 1A: b→c)

Summary

Introduction

Owing to growing demand of the modern electronic devices including smart phones, touch screens, and light-emitting displays, there have been massive demands on the transparent conductive electrodes (TCEs) and TCE materials (e.g., indium tin oxide (ITO)) [1,2,3,4] It suffices for its job at the current technological stage, a combination of brittle nature, limited global supply of indium, and its high processing cost makes the conventional ITO based TCE unsuitable for next-generation applications such as flexible/stretchable displays and wearable devices. Based on our current approach, we prepared hybrid conductors of Ag NW and GP mesh with high optical transmittance and mechano-electric stability after systematical investigation on their morphological, physico-chemical, and mechanical properties as a function of concentration and treatment-time of chemical etchant

Material Syntheses

Material Characterizations

Mechano-Electric Characterization

The Hybrid Conductor of Ag NW and Irregularly Patterned GP Mesh

Controllable electrical-optical properties

Prevented Moiré effect