Improved Performance by SiO₂ Hollow Nanospheres for Silver Nanowire-Based Flexible Transparent Conductive Films

Flexible transparent conductive films (TCFs) have attracted tremendous interest thanks to the rapid development of portable/flexible/wearable electronics. TCFs on the basis of silver nanowires (AgNWs) with excellent performance are becoming an efficient alternative to replace the brittle transparent metal oxide. In this study, a promising method was developed by introducing SiO₂ hollow nanospheres (SiO₂-HNSs) into the film to significantly improve the performance of AgNW-based TCFs. Since SiO₂-HNSs have opposite charges to AgNWs, the strong attraction had promoted a uniform distribution of AgNWs and made the distance between AgNWs closer, which could decrease the contact resistance greatly. The introduction of SiO₂ layer remarkably enhanced the transmission of visible light and the conductivity. In addition, the TCFs constructed by AgNWs and SiO₂-HNSs showed much higher thermal stability and adhesive force than those by only AgNWs. As an example, the transmission of AgNW/SiO₂-HNS-coated poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) could increase about 14.3% in comparison to AgNW-coated PET. Typically, a AgNW/SiO₂-HNS-based TCF with a sheet resistance of about 33 Ω/sq and transmittance of about 98.0% (excluding substrate) could be obtained with excellent flexibility, adhesion, and thermal stability. At last some devices were fabricated.