Silver-Nanowire Mesh-Structured Transparent Conductive Film with Improved Transparent Conductive Properties and Mechanical Performance

Silver nanowires (AgNWs) are an optimum material for fabricating flexible transparent conductive films (TCFs), which are the primary materials in flexible optoelectronic devices. In most studies, TCFs are produced by coating AgNW onto a substrate to form a random network. However, according to some reports, a mesh-structured network may allow superior performance. The effects of a mesh structure are quantitatively studied, a simple calculation method to derive property curves of mesh-structured networks from those of random networks is presented, and a rule to fabricate mesh-structured TCFs with improved performance is determined. Different networks are then fabricated using a template method and transferred onto a polyethylene terephthalate substrate to produce flexible TCFs. Through a series of experiments, it is verified that the mesh structure makes a positive contribution to both the transparent conductive properties and the flexibility. The transmittance of the film is 95.2% when the sheet resistance is 36.0 Ω sq⁻¹, and the properties of the film are well maintained after 5000 bending cycles at a bending curvature of 5 mm.