Highly\nStable Silver\nNanowire Plasmonic Electrodes\nfor Flexible Polymer Light-Emitting Devices

Abstract

Silver\nnanowire (AgNW) transparent electrodes are considered\nas\na promising candidate for applications in flexible optoelectronic\ndevices. However, it remains a great challenge to obtain flexible\nAgNW electrodes with excellent optoelectrical properties and mechanical\nflexibility. Here, highly stable Ag nanoparticle (AgNP)-enhanced plasmonic\nAgNW electrodes are demonstrated via the controllable in situ growth\nof AgNPs at the AgNW junctions and introduction of an l-histidine\n(l-His) wrapping layer. The flexible transparent electrodes\nof AgNW-AgNP/l-His possess a low sheet resistance (<i>R</i>_sh) of ∼17.5 Ω sq^–1, a high transmittance of ∼92.5% (550 nm), and a robust mechanical\nstability (100,000 bending cycles). Benefiting from plasmon-coupling\neffects, flexible polymer light-emitting devices (FPLEDs) with AgNW-AgNP/l-His electrodes present a current efficiency (CE) of ∼14.8\ncd A^–1 and an external quantum efficiency (EQE)\nof ∼5.6%, constituting ∼80% and ∼75% increases\ncompared to those of the reference devices with AgNW electrodes, respectively.\nAdditionally, the laminated flexible transparent PLEDs (FT-PLEDs)\nare demonstrated by integrating polydimethyl­siloxane/AgNW-AgNP\nanodes by a soft lamination process. The FT-PLEDs present a CE of\n∼7.1 cd A^–1 (cathode side: ∼3.9 cd\nA^–1; anode side: ∼3.2 cd A^–1) and an EQE of ∼2.7% (cathode side: ∼1.5%; anode side:\n∼1.2%). Furthermore, the FPLEDs and FT-PLEDs exhibit robust\nmechanical durability, maintaining ∼89% and ∼86% of\ntheir initial luminance after 1000 bending cycles at a bending radius\nof 2 mm, respectively. This work opens up a new avenue for the development\nof high performance and stable flexible optoelectronic devices.