Ice-Templated, Large-Area Silver Nanowire Pattern for Flexible Transparent Electrode

Flexible transparent electrodes are critically important for the emerging flexible and stretchable electronic and optoelectronic devices. To this end, transparent polymer films coated with silver nanowires (AgNWs) have been intensively studied in the past decade. However, it remains a grand challenge to achieve both high conductivity and transmittance in large-area films, mainly due to the poor alignment of AgNWs and their high junction resistance. Here, the successful attempt to realize large-area AgNW patterns on various substrates by a 2D ice-templating approach is reported. With a relatively low dosage of AgNWs (4 mu g center dot cm(-2)), the resulted flexible electrode simultaneously achieves high optical transmittance (approximate to 91%) and low sheet resistance (20 omega center dot sq(-1)). In addition, the electrode exhibits excellent durability during cyclic bending (approximate to 10 000 times) and stretching (50% strain). The potential applications of the flexible transparent electrode in both touch screen and electronic skin sensor, which can monitor the sliding pressure and direction in real-time, are demonstrated. More importantly, it is believed that the study represents a facile and low-cost approach to assemble various nanomaterials into large-area functional patterns for advanced flexible devices.

Automated summary

Flexible transparent electrodes with high optical transmittance and low sheet resistance have been achieved by coating silver nanowires using a 2D ice-templating approach. The electrodes demonstrate excellent durability during cyclic bending and stretching, making them suitable for applications in touch screens and electronic skin sensors. This study represents a simple and cost-effective method to assemble various nanomaterials into large-area functional patterns for advanced flexible devices.