title: Optimizing ultrathin Ag films for high performance oxide-metal-oxide flexible transparent electrodes through surface energy modulation and template-stripping procedures.
abstract: Among new flexible transparent conductive electrode (TCE) candidates, ultrathin Ag film (UTAF) is attractive for its extremely low resistance and relatively high transparency. However, the performances of UTAF based TCEs critically depend on the threshold thickness for growth of continuous Ag films and the film morphologies. Here, we demonstrate that these two parameters could be strongly altered through the modulation of substrate surface energy. By minimizing the surface energy difference between the Ag film and substrate, a 9 nm UTAF with a sheet resistance down to 6.9 Ω sq-1can be obtained using an electron-beam evaporation process. The resultant UTAF is completely continuous and exhibits smoother morphologies and smaller optical absorbances in comparison to the counterpart of granular-type Ag film at the same thickness without surface modulation. Template-stripping procedure is further developed to transfer the UTAFs to flexible polymer matrixes and construct Al2O3/Ag/MoOx(AAM) electrodes with excellent surface morphology as well as optical and electronic characteristics, including a root-mean-square roughness below 0.21 nm, a transparency up to 93.85% at 550 nm and a sheet resistance as low as 7.39 Ω sq-1. These AAM based electrodes also show superiority in mechanical robustness, thermal oxidation stability and shape memory property.
authors.affiliation: Ningbo Institute of Material Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo 315201, China.
authors.forename: Xi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Ningbo Institute of Material Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo 315201, China.
authors.forename: Pingqi
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Ningbo Institute of Material Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo 315201, China.
authors.forename: Zhenhai
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Ningbo Institute of Material Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo 315201, China.
authors.forename: Juye
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Ningbo Institute of Material Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo 315201, China.
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Ningbo Institute of Material Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo 315201, China.
authors.forename: Jichun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ye