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Updated: Feb 13, 2026
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A Fabrication Method for Highly Stretchable Conductors with Silver Nanowires
Published on: January 21, 2016
10.4K
Highly transparent and flexible circuits through patterning silver nanowires into microfluidic channels
Jing Sun1, Wenhui Zhou1, Haibo Yang1
1College of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Institute of Microanalysis, Dalian University, Dalian 116622, China. sunjing@dlu.edu.cn.
Chemical Communications (Cambridge, England)
|March 22, 2018
Summary
Researchers developed true transparent and flexible circuits (TFCs) using silver nanowires and microfluidics. This facile method offers precise patterns, high transparency, and conductivity for advanced electronics.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Nanotechnology
- Electronics Engineering
Background:
- Flexible and transparent devices require advanced transparent and flexible circuits (TFCs).
- Existing TFCs often suffer from partial transparency, lack of pattern control, or complex fabrication.
- There is a need for facile and scalable methods to produce high-performance TFCs.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a facile and scalable method for fabricating true transparent and flexible circuits (TFCs) with precise pattern control.
- To achieve concurrent high transparency, conductivity, flexibility, stretchability, and robustness in TFCs.
- To explore the potential applications of these TFCs in wearable medical equipment and transparent electronic devices.
Main Methods:
- Fabrication of a transparent and flexible conductive film by spin coating silver nanowires (AgNWs) onto polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS).
- Utilizing microfluidic technology to create circuits with precise and complex patterns by spin coating AgNWs into microfluidic channels on PDMS.
- Characterization of the TFCs for transparency, sheet resistance, flexibility, and stretchability.
Main Results:
- Achieved a highly transparent (90.86%) and flexible conductive film with low sheet resistance (3.22 Ω sq-1).
- Demonstrated ultraprecise and complex circuit patterning from microscale to milliscale using microfluidic technology.
- The fabricated TFCs exhibited excellent concurrent transparency, conductivity, flexibility, stretchability, and robustness.
Conclusions:
- A facile and scalable method for producing true TFCs with precise pattern control has been successfully developed.
- The developed TFCs possess a unique combination of high performance characteristics suitable for demanding applications.
- This technology holds significant promise for advancing wearable medical equipment and transparent electronic devices through mass production feasibility.
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