A one-step synthesis of ultra-long silver nanowires with ultra-high aspect ratio above 2000 and its application in flexible transparent conductive electrodes

Lu Zhang; Fuliang Jiang; Bisheng Wu; Chencheng Lv; Minghua Wu

doi:10.1088/1361-6528/abce7a

A one-step synthesis of ultra-long silver nanowires with ultra-high aspect ratio above 2000 and its application in flexible transparent conductive electrodes

Nanotechnology. 2021 Mar 5;32(10):105710. doi: 10.1088/1361-6528/abce7a.

Authors

Lu Zhang^{1

2}, Fuliang Jiang³, Bisheng Wu^{1

2}, Chencheng Lv^{1

2}, Minghua Wu^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Engineering Research Center for Eco-Dyeing and Finishing of Textiles, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou 310018, Zhejiang, People's Republic of China.
² Key Laboratory of Advanced Textile Materials and Manufacturing Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Materials and Textiles, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou 310018, Zhejiang, People's Republic of China.
³ Jiaxing Institute for Food, Drug and Product Quality Control, Jiaxing 314001, Zhejiang, People's Republic of China.

PMID: 33246320
DOI: 10.1088/1361-6528/abce7a

Abstract

Silver nanowires (AgNWs), appear as an extremely promising candidate for the next generation of flexible transparent conductive electrodes (FTCEs). However, the performance of AgNWs-FTCEs was severely limited by the aspect ratio of AgNWs, while it was still a big challenge to fabricate AgNWs with high aspect ratio nowadays. To improve the aspect ratio of AgNWs, bromide ion (Br^-), cupric ion (Cu²⁺) and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP, Mw ≈ 1300 000) which are beneficial for the synthesis of high aspect ratio AgNWs, were introduced in this article. The high quality and uniform AgNWs with the average diameter of 77.6 nm and the aspect ratio above 2000 were fabricated via a one-step solvothermal method. The effects of reaction time, molar ratio of AgNO₃ to PVP and the concentration of CuBr₂ on the aspect ratio of AgNWs were discussed. The mechanism of the synthesis of high aspect ratio AgNWs was explored. After that, the prepared AgNWs were spin-coated on the surface of PET film, the FTCEs based on the ultra-high aspect ratio AgNWs without any post-treatments exhibits relatively high transmittance, low haze and low sheet resistance, and the AgNWs have little effect on the optical performance of pristine PET film. The outstanding performance of the prepared FTCEs indicated that the ultra-high aspect ratio AgNWs are ideal materials in the application of FTCEs, and the method of fabricating AgNWs could provide a direction to the high aspect ratio AgNWs.