Polymer Embedded Silver-Nanowire Network Structures - A Platform for the Facile Fabrication of Flexible Transparent Conductors

Solution-processed silver nanowire (Ag-NW) network structures are candidate materials for application as flexible transparent conductors in a wide range of flexible electronics. However, challenges remain in fabricating these materials in an efficient and scalable manner in addition to making them mechanically robust. Here, a method based on the direct processing of Ag-NW network structures from aqueous polymer solutions is presented that significantly increases the uniformity of the NW networks and lowers the percolation threshold, thus resulting in an increased figure of merit (percolative FoM P > 40) of Ag-NW based transparent conductors. Direct polymer solution processing also reduces the batch-to-batch variability of optical and electrical properties of the NW networks to <5% of the mean (as compared to 10-20% variability for pristine Ag-NW networks), and significantly improves their resistance to mechanical deformation. Our results further indicate that semicrystalline polymers such as poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) could serve as viable and benign alternatives to conducting polymer matrices (such as PEDOT:PSS) that pose a challenge to device fabrication due to their corrosive properties.