Flexible, transparent and tough silver nanowire/nanocellulose electrodes for flexible touch screen panels

Huang Yu; Yan Tian; Mahmut Dirican; Dongjun Fang; Chaoyi Yan; Jingyi Xie; Dongmei Jia; Yi Liu; Chunxing Li; Meng Cui; Hao Liu; Gang Chen; Xiangwu Zhang; Jinsong Tao

doi:10.1016/j.carbpol.2021.118539

Flexible, transparent and tough silver nanowire/nanocellulose electrodes for flexible touch screen panels

Carbohydr Polym. 2021 Dec 1:273:118539. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2021.118539. Epub 2021 Aug 8.

Authors

Huang Yu¹, Yan Tian¹, Mahmut Dirican², Dongjun Fang¹, Chaoyi Yan², Jingyi Xie¹, Dongmei Jia¹, Yi Liu¹, Chunxing Li¹, Meng Cui¹, Hao Liu³, Gang Chen¹, Xiangwu Zhang², Jinsong Tao⁴

Affiliations

¹ State Key Lab of Pulp and Paper Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China.
² Fiber and Polymer Science Program, Department of Textile Engineering, Chemistry and Science, Wilson College of Textiles, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695-8301, USA.
³ State Key Lab of Pulp and Paper Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China. Electronic address: feliuh@scut.edu.cn.
⁴ State Key Lab of Pulp and Paper Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China. Electronic address: jstao@scut.edu.cn.

PMID: 34560951
DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2021.118539

Abstract

Flexible touch screen panel (f-TSP) has been emerging recently and metallic nanowire transparent conductive electrodes (TCEs) are its key components. However, most metallic nanowire (MNW) TCEs suffer from weak bonding strength between metal nanowire electrode layers and polymer substrates, which causes delamination of TCEs and produces serious declines in durability of f-TSPs. Here, we introduce AgS bonding and develop tough and strong electrode-substrate bonded MNW TCEs, which can enhance durability of f-TSPs significantly. We used silver nanowires (AgNWs) as metal conductive electrode and thiol-modified nanofibrillated cellulose (NFC-HS) nanopaper as substrates. Because of the existence of Ag from AgNWs and S from NFC-HS, strong AgS bonding was generated and tough TCEs were obtained. The TCEs exhibit excellent electrical stability, outstanding optical and electrical properties. The f-TSP devices integrated with the TCEs illustrate striking durability. This technique may provide a promising strategy to produce flexible and tough TCEs for next-generation high-durability f-TSPs.

Keywords: AgS bonding; Flexible touch screen panels; Nanofibrillated cellulose; Silver nanowires; Transparent conductive electrodes.