Mechanically Strong, Optically Transparent, Giant Metal Superlattice Nanomembranes From Ultrathin Gold Nanowires

Abstract

Metallic membranes of about 2.5 nm thick but with macroscopic lateral dimensions have been successfully fabricated from ultrathin gold nanowires. Such metallic nanomembranes are transparent, conductive and mechanically strong, with an optical transmittance of 90-97%, an electrical resistance of ∼1142 kΩ sq(-1) , and a breaking strength of ∼14 N m(-1) with a typical atomic force microscope probe.

A wearable and highly sensitive pressure sensor with ultrathin gold nanowires

“…The recently developed ultrathin gold nanowires (AuNWs) (B2 nm in width, with an aspect ratio of 410,000) [29][30][31] are mechanically flexible yet robust, enabling their uses in constructing novel superlattice nanomembranes 32 and flexible transparent electrodes 33 . Despite superior mechanical and electrical properties, ultrathin AuNWs have not yet been used in designing flexible sensors.…”

Fabrication of Highly Transparent and Flexible NanoMesh Electrode via Self‐assembly of Ultrathin Gold Nanowires

“…The figure of merit of AuNWs mesh electrode gave σ dc /σ op = 30 ( Figure S13, Supporting Information), which is 24 times larger than AuNWs nanomembrane previously reported. [18] Comparing the performance with other AuNWs [18,35,[39][40][41] ( Figure S14, Supporting Information), our method stands as advantageous strategy for the fabrication of conductive and transparent films. The improved conductivity may be due to the merit of mesh geometry, which provided greater thickness of the bundles relative to nanowire membranes, and the larger holes that will increase the transmittance at a given sheet resistance due to the larger amount of metal stacked out of the plane of the film.…”

“…The partial removal of oleyamine ligands during aging may be the reason for the bundle formation. [34] The bundles had a typical thickness of 193.7 ± 67.6 nm and mesh pore sizes varied from 8 μm to 52 μm, depending on 100 random pores at aging time of 12 h. The resulting mesh film is easily transferred to a variety of substrate, exhibiting a sheet resistance of ≈40 times smaller than our previous nonmeshed film [18] under the similar optical transmittance of ≈92%. Moreover, our mesh electrode is patternable and washable with excellent flexibility, which could be directly used for touch screen and flexible circuit of light emitting devices (LEDs).…”

“…Nanomaterials, such as carbon nanotubes, [1,3,4,[12][13][14] graphene, [15,16] and metal nanowires [8,9,[17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24] have been recently explored and demonstrated their potentials to flexible TE overcoming shortcoming of current ITObased TE (brittleness, low inferred transmittance, and earth rareness). Despite this potential, it remains challenging to achieve high conductivity and high transparency without deterioration under repeated bending and stretching cycles.…”

Assembly of π‐Conjugated Nanosystems for Electronic Sensing Devices

“…[24,[27][28][29][30] For example, Chen et al reported that by taking the advantage of their thinner and flexible gold nanowires (AuNWs) building blocks, giant superlattice nanomembranes could be fabricated via LB techniques. [31,32] It was found that high transparency, conductivity, and stretchability could be achieved simultaneously in such single-layer AuNWs superlattice nanomembrane, which make them facile to be integrated into lightweight, foldable optoelectronic devices with low consumption of materials and energy. The authors believed that their methodology might serve as a model system, extendable to superlattice nanomembranes from other materials for a myriad of applications in construction of new classes of 2D metamaterials and devices.…”