Novel transparent high-performance AgNWs/ZnO electrodes prepared on unconventional substrates with 3D structured surfaces

With the development of optoelectronic devices with three-dimensional (3D) structured surfaces, transparent electrodes that can be deposited on non-plane substrates have become increasingly important. In this paper, novel transparent silver nanowire (AgNWs)/ZnO film electrodes were uniformly prepared on treated 3D glass and PET substrates with a combination of spin-coating and heat-welding. The AgNWs/ZnO films show a transmittance of similar to 88% and a sheet resistance of similar to 10 Omega/sq. They are comparable with commercial ITO films. Furthermore, only a small in-plane resistance variation of similar to 1 Omega/sq was measured using four-point probe mapping in films with a 10 cm x 10 cm area. These results confirm that these novel film electrodes are very uniform. Both electrical resistance and optical transmittance of the films remain mostly intact after 1000 bending cycles and tape peeling-tests with 10 cycles. The films show high thermal stability for more than one month at 80 degrees C. The strategy provides a new route for the design and fabrication of optoelectronic devices with 3D structured surfaces. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.