Flexible transparent silver nanowires conductive films fabricated with spin‐coating method

Abstract

Abstract Flexible transparent silver nanowires (AgNWs) conductive films were fabricated on a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate via a two‐stage spin coating method by commercial AgNWs with 20, 40, and 60 nm in diameter, respectively. The electrical and optical and mechanical properties and microstructures were studied by transmittance and haze and sheet resistance and blending cycle measurements and scanning electron microscopy. The flexible transparent AgNWs conductive film with 13 Ω∙sq −1 of sheet resistance and 89.7% of light transmittances at 550 nm and 4.23% of haze was obtained. There is little difference in light transmittance in the visible light range for the conductive films with AgNWs of 20, 40, and 60 nm in diameter, respectively; however, the sheet resistances of the films are 24.8, 28.8, and 62.4 Ω∙sq −1 respectively, indicating that the AgNWs networks with smaller diameters exhibit more connectivity at a given area coverage. After 1000 bending cycles, the sheet resistances of the three films are still low. This research work provides guidance for the preparation of high‐performance flexible transparent AgNWs conductive films by the spin coating method.