Electrical conductivity of crack-template-based transparent conductive films: A computational point of view

TL;DR

This study computationally analyzes the electrical conductance of crack-template-based transparent conductive films, revealing a proportionality to the square root of crack density, which aligns with theoretical predictions.

Contribution

It provides a computational analysis of the topological and geometrical properties of crack templates and their impact on electrical conductance in TCFs.

Findings

Electrical conductance is proportional to the square root of crack density.

Comparison with analytical models confirms theoretical predictions.

Image processing effectively characterizes crack network properties.

Abstract

Crack-template-based transparent conductive films (TCFs) are promising kinds of junction-free, metallic network electrodes that can be used, e.g., for transparent electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding. Using image processing of published photos of TCFs, we have analyzed the topological and geometrical properties of such crack templates. Additionally, we analyzed the topological and geometrical properties of some computer-generated networks. We computed the electrical conductance of such networks against the number density of their cracks. Comparison of these computations with predictions of the two analytical approaches revealed the proportionality of the electrical conductance to the square root of the number density of the cracks was found, this being consistent with the theoretical predictions.