Enhancement of the Conductivity and Uniformity of Silver Nanowire Flexible Transparent Conductive Films by Femtosecond Laser-Induced Nanowelding

Abstract

In order to improve the performance of silver nanowire (AgNW) flexible transparent conductive films (FTCFs), including the conductivity, uniformity, and reliability, the welding of high repetition rate femtosecond (fs) laser is applied in this work. Fs laser irradiation can produce local enhancement of electric field, which induce melting at the gap of the AgNWs and enhance electrical conductivity of nanowire networks. The overall resistivity of the laser-welded AgNW FTCFs reduced significantly and the transparency changed slightly. Meanwhile, PET substrates were not damaged during the laser welding procedure in particular parameters. The AgNW FTCFs can achieve a nonuniformity factor of the sheet resistance as 4.6% at an average sheet resistance of 16.1 Ω/sq and transmittance of 91%. The laser-welded AgNW FTCFs also exhibited excellent reliability against mechanical bending over 10,000 cycles. The welding process may open up a new approach for improvement of FTCFs photoelectric property and can be applied in the fabrication of silver nanostructures for flexible optoelectronic and integration of functional devices.

Invisible Silver Nanomesh Skin Electrode via Mechanical Press Welding

“…Various planarization methods for the AgNW network have been widely studied to solve the above problems, such as (i) coating of a conductive polymer, e.g., poly (3,4-ethylendeioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) PEDOT:PSS onto the AgNW network [31][32][33][34]; (ii) embedding the AgNWs in a polymer thin film [23,25,30,35,36]; (iii) application of a physical, chemical force to the AgNW network, etc. [37][38][39][40][41]. These processes reduce surface roughness and improve adhesion.…”

Characterization of Silver Nanowire Flexible Transparent Electrode with Grid Pattern Formed via Thermocompression

“…AgNW is also limited in reducing the sheet resistance mainly due to the large contact resistance of the junction where the wires overlap [10][11][12]. Various post-deposition treatment methods such as laser annealing [13,14], ultraviolet (UV) irradiation [15][16][17], pressure application [18,19], chemical welding [20,21], solvent evaporation [22], composite nanomaterials [23,24], and thermal annealing [25,26] have been proposed to minimize the junction resistance of AgNW. Among these post-treatment methods, thermal annealing is a simple method to lower the sheet resistance, but it causes structural deformation of AgNW at high temperatures, resulting in a sharp increase in sheet resistance [27].…”

Femtosecond Laser Patterning Wettability‐Assisted PDMS for Fabrication of Flexible Silver Nanowires Electrodes

“…[4][5][6][7] Among these materials, silver nanowires (AgNWs) have great application prospects due to their compatibility with a solutionprocess, excellent photo electric performance, and mechanical toughness. [8][9][10][11] For prac tical application of AgNWs, the precise patterning of AgNWs is Some surface treatment combined with mask assisting method, such as thermally grown SiO 2 /Si wafer, oxygen plasma, or ultraviolet ozone treatment can create hydrophilic functional groups on substrate surface to realize the coating of conductive ink. [28,35,36,38] For example, Chou et al [28] fabricated micronscale AgNWs patterns with a width of 30 µm based on polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrate using a parylene stencil mask.…”