Annealing-free, flexible silver nanowire–polymer composite electrodes via a continuous two-step spray-coating method

TLDR: A two-step spray-coating method for producing large-scale, smooth and flexible silver nanowire-poly3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene:polystyrenesulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) composite electrodes displaying good electromechanical flexibility for use in flexible optoelectronic applications is demonstrated.

Abstract: For the realization of high-efficiency flexible optoelectronic devices, transparent electrodes should be fabricated through a low-temperature process and have the crucial feature of low surface roughness. In this paper, we demonstrated a two-step spray-coating method for producing large-scale, smooth and flexible silver nanowire (AgNW)–poly3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene:polystyrenesulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) composite electrodes. Without the high-temperature annealing process, the conductivity of the composite film was improved via the lamination of highly conductive PEDOT:PSS modified by dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). Under the room temperature process condition, we fabricated the AgNW–PEDOT:PSS composite film showing an 84.3% mean optical transmittance with a 10.76 Ω sq−1 sheet resistance. The figure of merit ΦTC was higher than that obtained from the indium tin oxide (ITO) films. The sheet resistance of the composite film slightly increased less than 5.3% during 200 cycles of tensile and compression folding, displaying good electromechanical flexibility for use in flexible optoelectronic applications.