Manipulating nanowire assembly for flexible transparent electrodes

Abstract

Manipulating nanowire assembly could help the design of hierarchical structures with unique functionalities. Herein, we first report a facile solution-based process under ambient conditions for co-assembling two kinds of nanowires which have suitable composition and functionalities, such as Ag and Te nanowires, for the fabrication of flexible transparent electrodes. Then Te nanowires can be etched away easily, leaving Ag nanowire networks with controllable pitch. By manipulating the assembly of Ag and Te nanowires, we can precisely tailor and balance the optical transmittance and the conductivity of the resulting flexible transparent electrodes. The network of Ag nanowires which have tunable pitch forms a flexible transparent conducting electrode with an averaged transmission of up to 97.3% and sheet resistances as low as 2.7 Ω/sq under optimized conditions. The work provides a new way for tailoring the properties of nanowire-based devices.