Foldable and highly flexible transparent conductive electrode based on PDMS/Ag NWs/PEDOT: PSS

In this work, we can transfer poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene): poly (styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT: PSS) from the glass substrate to the polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrate by using HNO3 treatment, without losing the resistance and transmittance of the transparent conductive film, which overcome the hydrophobic characteristic of the PDMS substrate. The silver nanowires (Ag NWs) based flexible transparent electrode with PDMS as substrate is prepared. The PDMS/Ag NWs/PEDOT: PSS composite film shows a high transmittance of over 84.07% and low sheet resistance of 9.05 Omega/sq, and its quality factor can reach 218.2. Moreover, the transparent conductive film has an excellent folding performance. After 200 repeated folding experiments, the resistance change rate is only 7.8%. The heater prepared by using the composite film can reach a maximum heating temperature of 184.4 degrees C, and repeat the on-off operation several times under the condition of 55 degrees C, which proves the promising application of transparent conductive film in wearable devices for human bodies.

Automated summary

In this work, a PDMS/Ag NWs/PEDOT: PSS composite film with high transmittance, low sheet resistance, excellent folding performance, and good heating capability was successfully prepared by transferring PEDOT: PSS from glass substrate to PDMS substrate using HNO3 treatment.