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The energy consumption in buildings through the thermal radiation of windows has become a big challenge in modern life. The low mid‐infrared emissivity (εMIR) and near‐infrared blocking windows with high visible transmittance (Tvis) are highly required in modern energy‐saving buildings, while most existing low εMIR windows are severely limited by their complex and high‐cost processing conditions and could not be retrofitted to existing windows. Herein low εMIR foils based on aligned silver nanowires (AgNWs) fabricated via an economical solution process are reported with good energy‐saving performance. The foils with aligned AgNWs give lower εMIR and higher Tvis compared with randomly oriented AgNWs foils. The low‐cost process, high Tvis, low εMIR, and flexibility to apply on any surface opens a new avenue to cut down energy consumption in existing windows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One-dimensional (1D) nanoobjects have strongly anisotropic physical properties which are averaged out and cannot be exploited in disordered systems. The goal of the present review is to describe the current methods for preparing macroscopic composite films in which the long axis of individual 1D-nanoobjects is more or less parallel to the x,y-plane of the substrate as well as to each other (alignment direction). Such structures are generally described as in-plane anisotropic and many of their physical properties show minima or maxima parallel to the alignment direction. Optical polarizers are a typical class of such materials, but anisotropic materials properties can enhance the performance of devices and materials over many length scales in various disciplines of materials science including electronic devices, environmental sensors, energy saving and energy generation applications, plasmonic devices, Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) and biological applications. The reviewed alignment methods fall into two categories: techniques in which all nanoobjects remain in the x,y-plane and the in-plane densities and alignment are controlled; and techniques allowing building complex architectures in which each stratum of multilayered or stacked films may differ in chemical nature or alignment direction or both. This review serves a purpose to provide a platform to inspire new alignment approaches with improved assembly quality and upscaling potential and new applications with enhanced performance by alignment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transparent conductors for the next generation of soft electronic devices need to be highly stretchable, conductive, and transparent, while an inevitable challenge lies in enhancing them simultaneously. Cost‐effective silver nanowires (AgNWs) are widely used but the conventional random network yields a high junction resistance as well as degraded conductivity in the stretched state. Here, a novel, facile, and versatile agitation‐assisted assembly approach is reported to control the orientation direction and density of AgNWs and to layer‐by‐layer deposit the AgNWs monolayer or multilayers onto the prestrained soft substrate. This electrode demonstrates an unprecedented low sheet resistance of 2.8 Ω sq−1 as well as high transparency of 85% and high stretchability of 40%. It is interesting to note that contrary to most other reports, such a device shows higher conductivity in the stretched state compared to the released state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]