Self-assembled Large Scale Metal Alloy Grid Patterns As Flexible Transparent Conductive Layers

Overview

Journal Sci Rep

Specialty Science

Date 2015 Sep 4

PMID 26333520

Citations 4

Authors

Melinda Mohl

Aron Dombovari

Robert Vajtai

Pulickel M Ajayan

Krisztian Kordas

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The development of scalable synthesis techniques for optically transparent, electrically conductive coatings is in great demand due to the constantly increasing market price and limited resources of indium for indium tin oxide (ITO) materials currently applied in most of the optoelectronic devices. This work pioneers the scalable synthesis of transparent conductive films (TCFs) by exploiting the coffee-ring effect deposition coupled with reactive inkjet printing and subsequent chemical copper plating. Here we report two different promising alternatives to replace ITO, palladium-copper (PdCu) grid patterns and silver-copper (AgCu) fish scale like structures printed on flexible poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) substrates, achieving sheet resistance values as low as 8.1 and 4.9 Ω/sq, with corresponding optical transmittance of 79% and 65% at 500 nm, respectively. Both films show excellent adhesion and also preserve their structural integrity and good contact with the substrate for severe bending showing less than 4% decrease of conductivity even after 10(5) cycles. Transparent conductive films for capacitive touch screens and pixels of microscopic resistive electrodes are demonstrated.

Citing Articles

Recrystallized ice-templated electroless plating for fabricating flexible transparent copper meshes.

Li L, Fan Q, Xue H, Zhang S, Wu S, He Z RSC Adv. 2022; 10(17):9894-9901.

PMID: 35498573 PMC: 9052333. DOI: 10.1039/d0ra00916d.

Ultra-Smooth, Fully Solution-Processed Large-Area Transparent Conducting Electrodes for Organic Devices.

Jin W, Ginting R, Ko K, Kang J Sci Rep. 2016; 6:36475.

PMID: 27808221 PMC: 5093558. DOI: 10.1038/srep36475.

Roll-to-roll slot-die coating of 400 mm wide, flexible, transparent Ag nanowire films for flexible touch screen panels.

Kim D, Shin H, Ko E, Kim K, Kim T, Kim H Sci Rep. 2016; 6:34322.

PMID: 27677410 PMC: 5039627. DOI: 10.1038/srep34322.

Silver nanowires decorated with silver nanoparticles for low-haze flexible transparent conductive films.

Menamparambath M, Muhammed Ajmal C, Kim K, Yang D, Roh J, Park H Sci Rep. 2015; 5:16371.

PMID: 26575970 PMC: 4648094. DOI: 10.1038/srep16371.

References

Zhu Y, Sun Z, Yan Z, Jin Z, Tour J . Rational design of hybrid graphene films for high-performance transparent electrodes. ACS Nano. 2011; 5(8):6472-9. DOI: 10.1021/nn201696g. View

Hu L, Kim H, Lee J, Peumans P, Cui Y . Scalable coating and properties of transparent, flexible, silver nanowire electrodes. ACS Nano. 2010; 4(5):2955-63. DOI: 10.1021/nn1005232. View

Zheng Q, Ip W, Lin X, Yousefi N, Yeung K, Li Z . Transparent conductive films consisting of ultralarge graphene sheets produced by Langmuir-Blodgett assembly. ACS Nano. 2011; 5(7):6039-51. DOI: 10.1021/nn2018683. View

Liu B, Hsu C . Anti-scratch and transparency properties of transparent conductive carbon nanotube films improved by incorporating polyethoxysiloxane. J Colloid Interface Sci. 2011; 359(2):423-7. DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2011.04.026. View

Wu H, Kong D, Ruan Z, Hsu P, Wang S, Yu Z . A transparent electrode based on a metal nanotrough network. Nat Nanotechnol. 2013; 8(6):421-5. DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2013.84. View

Frey G, Reynolds K, Friend R, Cohen H, Feldman Y . Solution-processed anodes from layer-structure materials for high-efficiency polymer light-emitting diodes. J Am Chem Soc. 2003; 125(19):5998-6007. DOI: 10.1021/ja020913o. View

Zhang D, Ryu K, Liu X, Polikarpov E, Ly J, Tompson M . Transparent, conductive, and flexible carbon nanotube films and their application in organic light-emitting diodes. Nano Lett. 2006; 6(9):1880-6. DOI: 10.1021/nl0608543. View

Nagai T, Aoki N, Ochiai Y, Hoshino K . Electric conductivity-tunable transparent flexible nanowire-filled polymer composites: orientation control of nanowires in a magnetic field. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2011; 3(7):2341-8. DOI: 10.1021/am200260v. View

Zhang D, Wang R, Wen M, Weng D, Cui X, Sun J . Synthesis of ultralong copper nanowires for high-performance transparent electrodes. J Am Chem Soc. 2012; 134(35):14283-6. DOI: 10.1021/ja3050184. View

10.

Singh M, Haverinen H, Dhagat P, Jabbour G . Inkjet printing-process and its applications. Adv Mater. 2010; 22(6):673-85. DOI: 10.1002/adma.200901141. View

11.

Shin D, Woo S, Yem H, Cha M, Cho S, Kang M . A self-reducible and alcohol-soluble copper-based metal-organic decomposition ink for printed electronics. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2014; 6(5):3312-9. DOI: 10.1021/am4036306. View

12.

Higashitani K, McNamee C, Nakayama M . Formation of large-scale flexible transparent conductive films using evaporative migration characteristics of Au nanoparticles. Langmuir. 2011; 27(6):2080-3. DOI: 10.1021/la103902z. View

13.

Layani M, Gruchko M, Milo O, Balberg I, Azulay D, Magdassi S . Transparent conductive coatings by printing coffee ring arrays obtained at room temperature. ACS Nano. 2009; 3(11):3537-42. DOI: 10.1021/nn901239z. View

14.

Walker S, Lewis J . Reactive silver inks for patterning high-conductivity features at mild temperatures. J Am Chem Soc. 2012; 134(3):1419-21. DOI: 10.1021/ja209267c. View

15.

Rathmell A, Nguyen M, Chi M, Wiley B . Synthesis of oxidation-resistant cupronickel nanowires for transparent conducting nanowire networks. Nano Lett. 2012; 12(6):3193-9. DOI: 10.1021/nl301168r. View

16.

Rathmell A, Bergin S, Hua Y, Li Z, Wiley B . The growth mechanism of copper nanowires and their properties in flexible, transparent conducting films. Adv Mater. 2010; 22(32):3558-63. DOI: 10.1002/adma.201000775. View

17.

Kaskela A, Nasibulin A, Timmermans M, Aitchison B, Papadimitratos A, Tian Y . Aerosol-synthesized SWCNT networks with tunable conductivity and transparency by a dry transfer technique. Nano Lett. 2010; 10(11):4349-55. DOI: 10.1021/nl101680s. View

18.

Yunker P, Still T, Lohr M, Yodh A . Suppression of the coffee-ring effect by shape-dependent capillary interactions. Nature. 2011; 476(7360):308-11. DOI: 10.1038/nature10344. View

19.

Wu H, Hu L, Rowell M, Kong D, Cha J, McDonough J . Electrospun metal nanofiber webs as high-performance transparent electrode. Nano Lett. 2010; 10(10):4242-8. DOI: 10.1021/nl102725k. View

20.

Vermant J . Fluid mechanics: When shape matters. Nature. 2011; 476(7360):286-7. DOI: 10.1038/476286a. View