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Stability enhancement and patterning of silver nanowire networks by conformal TiO2 coating for flexible transparent conductive electrodes

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Abstract

Highly stable and patterned silver nanowire (AgNW) networks are essential and challenging for flexible or wearable electronics. In this work, TiO2 coatings by atomic layer deposition (ALD) technique were introduced for the fabrication of highly stable and patterned AgNW/TiO2 composites for flexible transparent conductive electrodes (TCEs). It was found that TiO2 coating could not only enhance the adhesion of AgNWs to the substrate, but also improve the flexibility of AgNW networks. This phenomenon was owed to the stability enhancement by the three-dimensional conformal deposition of TiO2 coatings. What’s more, the thermal and oxidation stabilities of AgNW networks could be greatly improved because of the barrier performance of TiO2 coating layer. Based on the stability enhancement by TiO2 coatings, a novelty patterning method of the AgNW networks was implemented by cooperating with photolithography and ultrasonic concussion process. AgNW networks with the strip width of 200 μm were well patterned without defects. Finally, highly stable and patterned AgNW/TiO2 composites were applied as flexible TCEs for alternating current electroluminescent (ACEL) devices. The whole ACEL device showed a high transparency of around 40%, and the flexibility and the lifetime of ACEL devices were correspondingly improved owe to the enhancement by TiO2 coatings. These results indicated the prospects of the AgNW/TiO2 composites on the applications to flexible or wearable electronics.

Graphical abstract

TiO2 coatings by atomic layer deposition (ALD) technique were introduced for the fabrication of highly stable and patterned AgNW/TiO2 composites for flexible transparent conductive electrodes (TCEs).

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Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 62204089), the Scientific Research Funds of Huaqiao University (21BS132), the Promotion Program for Young and Middle-aged Teacher in Science and Technology Research of Huaqiao University (ZQN-1124) and the National Key R&D Program of China (No.2021YFB3600104).

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Author notes

  1. Yalian Weng and Guixiong Chen have equally contributed to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. **amen Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Advanced Manufacturing, Institute of Luminescent Materials and Information Displays, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Huaqiao University, **amen, 361021, People’s Republic of China

    Yalian Weng

  2. College of Physics and Information Engineering, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, 350108, Fujian, People’s Republic of China

    Guixiong Chen, **ongtu Zhou, Yongai Zhang, Qun Yan & Tailiang Guo

  3. Fujian Science and Technology Innovation Laboratory for Optoelectronic Information of China, Fuzhou, 350108, Fujian, People’s Republic of China

    **ongtu Zhou, Yongai Zhang, Qun Yan & Tailiang Guo

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  1. Yalian Weng
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  2. Guixiong Chen
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  3. **ongtu Zhou
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Contributions

YW: Conceptualization, Data curation, Validation, Writing—Original draft preparation, Experimental operation, Reviewing and Editing. GC: Experimental operation, Sample measurement and Analyze. XZ: Conceptualization, Supervision, Reviewing and Editing, Project administration. YZ: Investigation and Supervision. QY: Supervision, methodology, Reviewing. TG: Supervision and Validation.

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Correspondence to Yalian Weng or **ongtu Zhou.

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Weng, Y., Chen, G., Zhou, X. et al. Stability enhancement and patterning of silver nanowire networks by conformal TiO2 coating for flexible transparent conductive electrodes. J Mater Sci 58, 17816–17828 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-023-09152-5

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