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

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 Φ_TC 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.