Synthesis of silver nanowires towards the development the ultrasensitive AgNWs/SiNPLs hybrid photodetector and flexible transparent conductor

Abstract

In this paper, we report the synthesis of silver nanowires (AgNWs) via polyol method towards the fabrication of low cost high sensitive hybrid photodetector. During AgNWs synthesis, NaCl was added to the reaction for controlling the free Ag+ ions concentration during the formation of initial Ag seeds. Field emission scanning electron microscopy results show that AgNWs of diameter ~ 50–80nm and length ~ 5–30µm can be achieved. UV–Visible absorption spectroscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy results indicate the formation of AgNWs in highly pure phase. Hybrid detector was fabricated by depositing the AgNWs film on silicon nanopillar (SiNPLs) substrate. Fabricated hybrid AgNWs/SiNPLs photodetector exhibits ~ 10 times more sensitivity as compared to SiNPLs based detector. In addition, AgNWs/SiNPLs detector shows outstanding stability against 20 days exposure to ambient conditions. These results indicate that AgNWs can be utilized to fabricate the high performance one dimensional hybrid photodetectors. The effectiveness of AgNWs to make the transparent flexible devices has also been demonstrated. AgNWs film deposited on a flexible polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate revealed a maximum total transmittance and sheet resistance of ~ 94% and ~ 200/sq., respectively.