Joining of copper nanowires by electrodepositing silver layer for high-performance transparent electrode

Copper nanowire (CuNW) has been considered as one of the most promising materials to replace ITO for transparent electrode (TE). However, the loose connections and oxidation problem limited its practical usage. Herein, we introduced a facile and simple electrodeposition method to solve these problems, which can effectively join the stacked NWs together and improve the oxidation resistance. After electrodeposition of Ag layer, the sheet resistance decreased to 13.8 Ohm/sq. at a transmittance of 90.5%. Thanks to the forming of firm joints, the relative resistance kept stable after 1000 times cyclic bending. Compared with pristine TE that the electrical conductivity increased 10 times under the atmosphere ambient, the electrical conductivity nearly unchanged after electrodepositing Ag layer under the same condition. The peaks of copper oxides are not observed in the XPS spectrum, proving the Ag layer prevents the contact between CuNWs and oxygen element. At last, a flexible and transparent heater was fabricated based on these advantages, which can produce uniform heating under a low input voltage.