Vacuum-filtration fabrication for diverse conductive transparent cellulose electronic devices

Abstract

Owing to their eco-friendly substrate, cellulose-based transparent electrodes have attracted considerable attention from researchers. However, the fabrication methods for transparent electrodes were mostly developed by focusing on normal nonporous substrates such as polydimethylsiloxane or polyethylene terephthalate. Here, we demonstrate the fabrication of transparent conductive nitrocellulose (TCNC) by the filtration method with a 0.2 μm-pore nitrocellulose (NC) membrane and solvent evaporation process to fill in the pores. This method allows for simple and fast fabrication. To ensure good optical and electrical performances for diverse materials and compositions, single-wall carbon nanotubes, multiwall carbon nanotubes, reduced graphene oxide, and silver nanowires (AgNWs) are filtered onto the nitrocellulose. The filtrated conductive nitrocellulose membrane is transformed to nonporous TCNC by dimethylsulfoxide evaporation. The materials and surface morphology of TCNC, which is fabricated by these methods are analyzed by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy. Moreover, TCNC fabricated by diverse materials is analyzed optically and electrically using the transmittance and sheet resistance, the current–voltage curve, and the mechanical properties. The highly conductive AgNW TCNC could be applied for touch-sensor devices and envelop-paper electronics, which may be operated by an embedded personal computer system.