Low-visibility patterning of transparent conductive silver-nanowire films

A partial etching mechanism is proposed to meet the requirement for low-visibility patterning of silver nanowire (AgNW)-based transparent conductive electrodes (TCEs) by reducing the difference in optical properties between conductive and nonconductive regions of the pattern. Using the finite difference time domain (FDTD) method, etched geometries that provide the smallest difference in transmittance after etching are theoretically determined. A sodium hypochlorite-based etchant capable that allows the etched geometry to be varied by controlling the pH is used to create a low-visibility pattern with a transmittance and haze difference of 0.07 and 0.04%, respectively. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that a partial etching mechanism such as this has been studied in relation to AgNW-based TCEs.