Recent progress on the fabrication of silver nanowire-based transparent electrodes

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent advances in the fabrication, properties, and stability of silver nanowire-based transparent electrodes, highlighting their potential as flexible, conductive, and multifunctional alternatives to traditional materials.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive summary of recent progress in theory, stability, and optical properties of silver nanowire TEs over the past five years.

Findings

Advances in fabrication methods like filtration and spraying.

Improved mechanical, chemical, and thermal stability of silver nanowire TEs.

Enhanced optical properties suitable for various applications.

Abstract

Transparent electrodes (TEs) made of metallic nanowires, such as Ag, Au, Cu, and Ni, have attracted rising attention for several reasons: 1) they can act as a substitute for tin oxide-based TEs such as indium-tin oxide (ITO) and fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO); 2) various methods exist for fabricating such TEs such as filtration, spraying and meyer bar coating; 3) greater compatibility with different substrates can be achieved due to the variety of fabrication methods; and 4) extra functions in addition to serving as electrodes, such as catalytic abilities, can be obtained due to the metals that compose the TEs. There are a large number of applications for TEs, ranging from electronics and sensors to biomedical devices. This short review is a summary of recent progress, mainly during the past five years, on silver nanowire-based TEs. The focus of the review will be on theory development, mechanical, chemical and thermal stability and optical properties. The many applications of TEs are outside the scope of this review.