Single Step Laser Transfer and Laser Curing of Ag NanoWires: A Digital Process for the Fabrication of Flexible and Transparent Microelectrodes.

Filimon Zacharatos,Ioanna Zergioti,Antonios Hatziapostolou,Ioannis Theodorakos,Panagiotis Karvounis

doi:10.3390/ma11061036

Filimon Zacharatos, Ioanna Zergioti + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/ma11061036

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Abstract

Ag nanowire (NW) networks have exquisite optical and electrical properties which make them ideal candidate materials for flexible transparent conductive electrodes. Despite the compatibility of Ag NW networks with laser processing, few demonstrations of laser fabricated Ag NW based components currently exist. In this work, we report on a novel single step laser transferring and laser curing process of micrometer sized pixels of Ag NW networks on flexible substrates. This process relies on the selective laser heating of the Ag NWs induced by the laser pulse energy and the subsequent localized melting of the polymeric substrate. We demonstrate that a single laser pulse can induce both transfer and curing of the Ag NW network. The feasibility of the process is confirmed experimentally and validated by Finite Element Analysis simulations, which indicate that selective heating is carried out within a submicron-sized heat affected zone. The resulting structures can be utilized as fully functional flexible transparent electrodes with figures of merit even higher than 100. Low sheet resistance (<50 Ohm/sq) and high visible light transparency (>90%) make the reported process highly desirable for a variety of applications, including selective heating or annealing of nanocomposite materials and laser processing of nanostructured materials on a large variety of optically transparent substrates, such as Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS).

Highlights

Ag Nanowires (NWs) are attracting increasing interest owing to their exquisite properties, which make them ideal candidates for a variety of components and systems, among which flexible and transparent electrodes for applications in electronics and sensors [1]
We demonstrate a novel single-step laser transfer and laser curing approach of Ag NWs pixels and patterns for the fabrication of flexible and transparent conductive micro-electrodes
NW at the solid state, which sheds light on the feasibility of the single step printing and curing process of Ag NW pixels on PEN substrates. These results indicate that the laser induced heating leads to temperatures above the minimal curing temperature of the Ag NW network and results in increased conductivity with respect to non-irradiated samples

Summary

Introduction

Ag Nanowires (NWs) are attracting increasing interest owing to their exquisite properties (electrical conductivity, high optical transparency, high mechanical flexibility), which make them ideal candidates for a variety of components and systems, among which flexible and transparent electrodes for applications in electronics and sensors [1]. For these particular applications, they hold substantial advantages when compared to other nanostructured materials which relate to their low-cost production process and their competitive figures of merit. Single crystalline Ag NWs are usually grown using low-cost solution based processes [10] adding further value to this nano-material in terms of cost effectiveness

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