Protecting the Nanoscale Properties of Ag Nanowires with a Solution-Grown SnO2 Monolayer as Corrosion Inhibitor

Yang Zhao; Xijun Wang; Shize Yang; Elisabeth Kuttner; Aidan A Taylor; Reza Salemmilani; Xin Liu; Martin Moskovits; Binghui Wu; Ahmad Dehestani; Jian-Feng Li; Matthew F Chisholm; Zhong-Qun Tian; Feng-Ru Fan; Jun Jiang; Galen D Stucky

doi:10.1021/jacs.9b07172

Protecting the Nanoscale Properties of Ag Nanowires with a Solution-Grown SnO₂ Monolayer as Corrosion Inhibitor

J Am Chem Soc. 2019 Sep 4;141(35):13977-13986. doi: 10.1021/jacs.9b07172. Epub 2019 Aug 22.

Authors

Yang Zhao^{1

2}, Xijun Wang³, Shize Yang⁴, Elisabeth Kuttner⁵, Aidan A Taylor⁶, Reza Salemmilani⁷, Xin Liu⁸, Martin Moskovits¹, Binghui Wu¹, Ahmad Dehestani⁹, Jian-Feng Li², Matthew F Chisholm⁴, Zhong-Qun Tian², Feng-Ru Fan¹, Jun Jiang³, Galen D Stucky^{1

6}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry , University of California Santa Barbara , Santa Barbara , California 93106 , United States.
² State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials (iChEM), College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering , Xiamen University , Xiamen 361005 , P. R. China.
³ Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials (iChEM), CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, School of Chemistry and Materials Science , University of Science and Technology of China , Hefei 230026 , P. R. China.
⁴ Center for Nanophase Materials Science , Oak Ridge National Laboratory , Oak Ridge , Tennessee 37830 , United States.
⁵ BASF SE , Ludwigshafen am Rhein 67063 , Germany.
⁶ Materials Department , University of California Santa Barbara , Santa Barbara , California United States.
⁷ Department of Mechanical Engineering , University of California Santa Barbara , Santa Barbara , California 93106 , United States.
⁸ School of Resources and Materials , Northeastern University at Qinhuangdao , Qinhuangdao 066004 , P. R. China.
⁹ California Research Alliance (CARA) , BASF Corporation , Berkeley , California 94720-1460 , United States.

PMID: 31436416
DOI: 10.1021/jacs.9b07172

Abstract

The chemical reactivity and/or the diffusion of Ag atoms or ions during thermal processing can cause irreversible structural damage, hindering the application of Ag nanowires (NWs) in transparent conducting films and other applications that make use of the material's nanoscale properties. Here, we describe a simple and effective method for growing monolayer SnO₂ on the surface of Ag nanowires under ambient conditions, which protects the Ag nanowires from chemical and structural damage. Our results show that Sn²⁺ and Ag atoms undergo a redox reaction in the presence of water. First-principle simulations suggest a reasonable mechanism for SnO₂ formation, showing that the interfacial polarization of the silver by the SnO₂ can significantly reduce the affinity of Ag to O₂, thereby greatly reducing the oxidation of the silver. The corresponding values (for example, before coating: 17.2 Ω/sq at 86.4%, after coating: 19.0 Ω/sq at 86.6%) show that the deposition of monolayer SnO₂ enables the preservation of high transparency and conductivity of Ag. In sharp contrast to the large-scale degradation of pure Ag-NW films including the significant reduction of its electrical conductivity when subjected to a series of harsh corrosion environments, monolayer SnO₂ coated Ag-NW films survive structurally and retain their electrical conductivity. Consequently, the thermal, electrical, and chemical stability properties we report here, and the simplicity of the technology used to achieve them, are among the very best reported for transparent conductor materials to date.