Silver Nanowire-Based Stretchable Transparent Electrode for Flexible Organic Light-Emitting Diode

Abstract

The new stretchable transparent electrode was proposed and fabricated based on a process which utilizes silver nanowires (AgNWs) on a Polyurethane (PU) substrate. In order to overcome the rough surface nature of the silver nanowire electrode, a titanium oxide (TiO₂) buffer layer was over-coated and then followed by a heat treatment of organo-metalic sol-gel solution. The fabricated stretchable electrodes exhibit electrical sheet resistance of 24 Ω/□, transmittance of 78% at 550 nm wavelength and average surface roughness of less than 5 nm. In addition, without adding additional conductive polymer layers, the fabricated AgNW-based electrode can maintain its initial electrical resistance even if nearly 130% strain is applied. In this letter, the critical role of a TiO₂ buffer layer in achieving the high performance of the AgNW stretchable electrode is discussed.