Highly\nTransparent Au-Coated Ag Nanowire Transparent Electrode with Reduction\nin Haze

Abstract

Ag nanowire transparent electrode\nhas excellent transmittance and sheet resistance, yet its optical\nhaze still needs to be improved in order for it to be suitable for\ndisplay applications. Ag nanowires are known to have high haze because\nof the geometry of the nanowire and the high light scattering characteristic\nof the Ag. In this study, a Au-coated Ag nanowire structure was proposed\nto reduce the haze, where a thin layer of Au was coated on the surface\nof the Ag nanowires using a mild [Au­(en)₂]­Cl₃ galvanic displacement reaction. The mild galvanic exchange allowed\nfor a thin layer of Au coating on the Ag nanowires with minimal truncation\nof the nanowire, where the average length and the diameter were 13.0\nμm and 60 nm, respectively. The Au-coated Ag nanowires were\nsuspended in methanol and then electrostatically sprayed on a flexible\npolycarbonate substrate that revealed a clear reduction in haze with\na 2–4% increase in total transmittance, sheet resistance ranges\nof 80–90%, and 8.8–36.8 Ohm/sq. Finite difference time\ndomain simulations were conducted for Au-coated Ag nanowires that\nindicated a significant reduction in the average scattering from 1\nto 0.69 for Au layer thicknesses of 0–10 nm.