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Nano Research 2014, 7(2): 236245 DOI 10.1007/s12274-013-0391-x
Low haze transparent electrodes and highly conducting air dried films with ultra-long silver nanowires synthesized by one-step polyol method
Teppei Araki1 (), Jinting Jiu2, Masaya Nogi2, Hirotaka Koga2, Shijo Nagao2, Tohru Sugahara2, and Katsuaki Suganuma2
1 Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University, Ibaraki, Osaka 567-0047, Japan
2 Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research, Osaka University, Ibaraki, Osaka 567-0047, Japan
Received:4 August 2013 Revised: 3 November 2013 Accepted: 15 November 2013
Tsinghua University Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013
KEYWORDS
ultra-long silver nanowires, one-step synthesis, transparent electrodes, haze
ABSTRACT
Transparent electrodes made of silver nanowires (AgNWs) exhibit higher flexibility when compared to those made of tin doped indium oxide (ITO) and are expected to be applied in plastic electronics. However, these transparent electrodes composed of AgNWs show high haze because the wires cause strong light scattering in the visible range. Reduction of the wire diameter has been proposed as a way to weaken light scattering, although there have seldom been any studies focusing on the haze because of the difficulty involved in controlling the wire diameter. In this report, we show that the haze can be easily reduced by increasing the length of AgNWs with a large diameter. Ultra-long (u-long) AgNWs with lengths in the range of 20100 m and a maximum length of 230 m have been successfully synthesized by adjusting the reaction temperature and the stirring speed of a one-step polyol process. Compared to typical AgNWs (with diameter and length of 70 nm and 10 m, respectively) and ITO, a transparent electrode consisting of u-long AgNWs 91 nm in diameter demonstrated a low haze of 3.4%1.6% and a low sheet resistance of 24109 /sq. at a transmittance of 94%97%. Even when fabricated at room temperature without any post-treatment, the electrodes composed of u-long AgNWs achieved a sheet resistance of 19 /sq. at a transmittance of 80%, which is six orders of magnitude lower than that of typical AgNWs.
1 Introduction
Fabrication of flexible and stretchable transparent electrodes has attracted much attention in the view of the increasing demand for plastic electronics in displays,
touch screens, and solar cells. Attempts have been made to replace the widely used, albeit stiff, tin doped indium oxide (ITO) with new...