Synthesis of Ag nanowires for the fabrication of transparent conductive electrode

Recently, advances in nano-materials research have opened the door for various transparent conductive materials, which include CNTs, graphene, Ag and Cu nanowires, and printable metal grids. Among them, Ag nanowires are particularly interesting to synthesize because bulk Ag exhibits the highest electrical conductivity among all metals. We tried to synthesize the Ag nanowires with a small diameter and long length, resulting in large aspect ratios. For the synthesis of the Ag nanowires, effects of various experimental parameters, i.e., the reaction time for synthesis, molar ratio of Ag source to surfactant, and molar weight of the surfactant were investigated with the physical shape of synthesized products. The Ag nanowire suspensions were formulated with the synthesized Ag nanowires, and a bar coating method with a Meyer rod was used to fabricate the transparent and conductive film on a glass substrate. For the thinnest wet coating, the transparent conductive layer of 90.6% transmittance at 550 nm of light wavelength and 66 ohm/sq sheet resistance could be obtained, while 13 ohm/sq was achieved at the transmittance of 76%.