Flexible and conductive cellulose substrate by layered growth of silver nanowires and indium-doped tin oxide

Abstract

Regenerated cellulose film (RCF) has potential as a conductive substrate due to features such as its degradability, transparency, and flexibility. Indium doped tin oxide (ITO) is a conventional conductive material, but its rigidity restricts the formation of flexible conductive film. In this study, silver nanowires (AgNWs) were introduced between the RCF and the ITO conductive framework. Additionally, the fabrication of flexible, conductive, and transparent RCF was conducted. The AgNWs-ITO based RCF demonstrated high conductivity (170 Ω per sq) and transparency (78%) by the addition of 50 μL of AgNWs. After bending the sample 50 times with a 5 mm curve radius, the as-prepared conductive RCF presented an electric resistance improvement of 19%, with a 485% increase for the control ITO-based RCF. This is a result of the AgNWs framework, which can lessen the destruction of the bending treatment on the conductive layer and can also desirably connect the ITO conductive sections. The novel approach can expedite the versatile applications of flexibly conductive RCF on printable, portable, and wearable electronic devices.