Recently, silver nanowire-based transparent conductive films (AgNW-based TCFs) with excellent comprehensive performance have aroused wide and great interest. However, it is always difficult to simultaneously improve the performances of TCFs in all aspects. In this work, by introducing silica nanoparticles (SiO2-NPs) with a smaller particle size, several properties of AgNW-based TCFs were optimized successfully. The transmittance and conductivity were improved simultaneously, and smaller particle size was proven to be more suitable to achieve TCFs with excellent optoelectrical properties. Typically, an AgNW/SiO2-based TCF with a sheet resistance of 250 Ω/sq and transmittance of 93.6% (including the poly (ethylene terephthalate) substrate, abbreviated as PET) could be obtained by using SiO2-NPs with a size of ∼21 nm, and this transmittance is even higher than that of the bare PET (91.8%) substrate. We demonstrated that the layer formed through self-assembly of SiO2-NPs can cut down the light scattering on the AgNW surface through total reflection, thus leading to a low haze of AgNW/SiO2-based TCFs. Very interestingly, the SiO2-NPs conducted away most of the heat generated during laser ablation, protecting the AgNWs from excessive melt and PET from empyrosis, and thus ensuring the TCFs with high transmittance and patterning accuracy. Besides, AgNW/SiO2-based TCFs have smaller surface roughness, better flexibility, and adhesive force. To the best of our knowledge, the comprehensive performance of the AgNW/SiO2-based TCFs reaches the highest level among recently reported novel TCFs.
Keywords: laser ablation; silica nanoparticle; silver nanowires; touch panel; transparent conductive films.