Highly stretchable and transparent nanomesh electrodes made by grain boundary lithography.
Foldable photoelectronics and muscle-like transducers require highly stretchable and transparent electrical conductors. Some conducting oxides are transparent, but not stretchable. Carbon nanotube films, graphene sheets and metal-nanowire meshes can be both stretchable and transparent, but their electrical resistances increase steeply with strain <100%. Here we present highly stretchable and transparent Au nanomesh electrodes on elastomers made by grain boundary lithography. The change in sheet resistance of Au nanomeshes is modest with a one-time strain of ~160% (from ~21 Ω per square to ~67 Ω per square), or after 1,000 cycles at a strain of 50%. The good stretchability lies in two aspects: the stretched nanomesh undergoes instability and deflects out-of-plane, while the substrate stabilizes the rupture of Au wires, forming distributed slits. Larger ratio of mesh-size to wire-width also leads to better stretchability. The highly stretchable and transparent Au nanomesh electrodes are promising for applications in foldable photoelectronics and muscle-like transducers.
Department of Physics and TcSUH, University of Houston, Houston, Texas 77204, USA.
Chuan Fei
CF
Guo
Department of Physics and TcSUH, University of Houston, Houston, Texas 77204, USA.
Tianyi
T
Sun
School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Kavli Institute for Bionano Science and Technology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
Qihan
Q
Liu
School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Kavli Institute for Bionano Science and Technology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
Zhigang
Z
Suo
Department of Physics and TcSUH, University of Houston, Houston, Texas 77204, USA.
Zhifeng
Z
Ren