title: Silver nanowire/optical adhesive coatings as transparent electrodes for flexible electronics.
abstract: We present new flexible, transparent, and conductive coatings composed of an annealed silver nanowire network embedded in a polyurethane optical adhesive. These coatings can be applied to rigid glass substrates as well as to flexible polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic and elastomeric polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrates to produce highly flexible transparent conductive electrodes. The coatings are as conductive and transparent as indium tin oxide (ITO) films on glass, but they remain conductive at high bending strains and are more durable to marring and scratching than ITO. Coatings on PDMS withstand up to 76% tensile strain and 250 bending cycles of 15% strain with a negligible increase in electrical resistance. Since the silver nanowire network is embedded at the surface of the optical adhesive, these coatings also provide a smooth surface (root mean squared surface roughness<10 nm), making them suitable as transparent conducting electrodes in flexible light-emitting electrochemical cells. These devices continue to emit light even while being bent to radii as low as 1.5 mm and perform as well as unstrained devices after 20 bending cycles of 25% tensile strain.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Windsor , Windsor, Ontario, Canada N9B 3P4.
authors.forename: Michael S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: Jessica C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: O'Kane
authors.forename: Adrian
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Niec
authors.forename: R Stephen
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Carmichael
authors.forename: Tricia Breen
authors.initials: TB
authors.lastname: Carmichael
mesh_terms: D004129:Dimethylpolysiloxanes / Q000737:chemistry; D055664:Electrochemical Techniques; D004566:Electrodes; D004581:Electronics; D005898:Glass / Q000737:chemistry; D053770:Nanowires / Q000737:chemistry*; D011093:Polyethylene Terephthalates / Q000737:chemistry; D012834:Silver / Q000737:chemistry*; D013718:Tensile Strength; D017971:Tin Compounds / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D004129:Dimethylpolysiloxanes; D011093:Polyethylene Terephthalates; D017971:Tin Compounds; D012834:Silver; C013830:baysilon; C109984:indium tin oxide