Recent progress in post treatment of silver nanowire electrodes for optoelectronic device applications

Owing to the economical and practical solution synthesis and coating strategies, silver nanowires (AgNWs) have been considered as one of the most suitable alternative materials to replace commercial indium tin oxide (ITO) transparent electrodes. The primitive AgNW electrode cannot meet the requirements for preparing high performance optoelectronic devices due to its high contact resistance, large surface roughness and poor stability. Thus, various post-treatments for AgNW film optimization are needed before its actual applications, such as welding treatment to decrease contact resistance and passivation to increase film stability. This review investigates recent progress on the preparation and optimization of AgNWs. Moreover, some unique fabrication strategies to produce highly oriented AgNW films with unique anisotropic properties have also been carried out with detailed analysis. The representative devices based on the AgNW electrode have been summarized and discussed at the end of this review.

Automated summary

Silver nanowires are considered as a suitable alternative to replace ITO transparent electrodes, but post-treatments are needed to optimize their performance for high-performance optoelectronic devices. This review explores recent progress in the preparation and optimization of AgNWs, as well as unique fabrication strategies for producing highly oriented AgNW films with unique anisotropic properties. Representative devices based on AgNW electrodes are summarized and discussed at the end of this review.