Transparent
conductive meshes were fabricated by inkjet printing
on flexible substrate using a percolation pattern created by random
removal of conducting bonds from a regular square two-dimensional
lattice. With this approach, a higher gain in optical transmittance
than electrical conductivity loss is achieved above the percolation
threshold. As a result of this, a figure of merit for the percolation
pattern is improved with respect to a regular square mesh. The transmittance
(T), sheet resistance (R), and figure
of merit (F) on percentage of removed bonds for square
lattices were measured. The gain of the figure of merit was observed
in the range of removed bonds from 5% to 15%. Our best samples exhibit T = 84%, R = 1.3 Ω/sq, and F = 130 × 10–3 Ω–1 (highest F value and lowest R value)
and T = 93%, R = 8 Ω/sq, and F = 65 × 10–3 Ω–1 (highest T value). This demonstrates an excellent
transparent conductive film (TCF) performance and is significantly
better than any continuous TCF. The percolation meshes demonstrate
good mechanical stability and the absence of a Moiré effect.
A distinctive feature of this method is its universality and capability
of being adapted to any symmetrical or asymmetrical pattern and deposition
technique.
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