Name: a fabrication method for highly stretchable conductors with silver nanowires
Uploaded: 2016-01-21T15:00:00
Description: Watch this Scientific Journal Video about A Fabrication Method for Highly Stretchable Conductors with Silver Nanowires at JoVE.com

The authors are grateful for the financial support from Ministry of Science and Technology.

1. Preparation of Silver Precursor Ink
<ol>
	<li>Add 1.85 g of diethanolamine (DEA) in 3.15 ml deionized water.</li>
	<li>Dissolve 0.15 g of silver nitrate in 5 ml deionized water.</li>
	<li>Mix the aqueous silver nitrate solution with DEA at a 1:1 volume ratio to have 10 ml silver precursor ink right before use.</li>
</ol>
2. Fabrication of Stretchable Conductive Thin Films
<ol>
	<li>Preparation of AgNW ink
	<ol>
		<li>Dilute 2 ml of 0.5 wt% AgNWs in isopropanol with 18 ml de...

<ol>
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Photonics. 7 (10), 817-824 (2013).</li><li>White, M. S., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Ultrathin,+highly+flexible+and+stretchable+PLEDs.">Ultrathin, highly flexible and stretchable PLEDs.</a> Nat. Photonics. 7 (10), 811-816 (2013).</li><li>Chang, I., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Performance+enhancement+in+bendable+fuel+cell+using+highly+conductive+Ag+nanowires.">Performance enhancement in bendable fuel cell using highly conductive Ag nanowires.</a> Int. J. Hydrogen Energ. 39 (14), 7422-7427 (2014).</li><li>Yan, C. 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S., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=High-performance,+transparent,+and+stretchable+electrodes+using+graphene-metal+nanowire+hybrid+structures.">High-performance, transparent, and stretchable electrodes using graphene-metal nanowire hybrid structures.</a> Nano Lett. 13 (6), 2814-2821 (2013).</li><li>Xu, F., Zhu, Y. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Highly+conductive+and+stretchable+silver+nanowire+conductors.">Highly conductive and stretchable silver nanowire conductors.</a> Adv. Mater. 24 (37), 5117-5122 (2012).</li><li>Yun, S., Niu, X., Yu, Z., Hu, W., Brochu, P., Pei, Q. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Compliant+silver+nanowire-polymer+composite+electrodes+for+bistable+large+strain+actuation.">Compliant silver nanowire-polymer composite electrodes for bistable large strain actuation.</a> Adv. Mater. 24 (10), 1321-1327 (2012).</li><li>Lee, P., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Highly+stretchable+and+highly+conductive+metal+electrode+by+very+long+metal+nanowire+percolation+network.">Highly stretchable and highly conductive metal electrode by very long metal nanowire percolation network.</a> Adv. Mater. 24 (25), 3326-3332 (2012).</li><li>Akter, T., Kim, W. S. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Reversibly+Stretchable+Transparent+Conductive+Coatings+of+Spray-Deposited+Silver+Nanowires.">Reversibly Stretchable Transparent Conductive Coatings of Spray-Deposited Silver Nanowires.</a> ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces. 4 (4), 1855-1859 (2012).</li><li>Madaria, A., Kumar, A., Ishikawa, F., Zhou, C. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Uniform,+highly+conductive,+and+patterned+transparent+films+of+a+percolating+silver+nanowire+network+on+rigid+and+flexible+substrates+using+a+dry+transfer+technique.">Uniform, highly conductive, and patterned transparent films of a percolating silver nanowire network on rigid and flexible substrates using a dry transfer technique.</a> Nano Res. 3 (8), 564-573 (2010).</li><li>Lee, J., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Room-Temperature+Nanosoldering+of+a+Very+Long+Metal+Nanowire+Network+by+Conducting-Polymer-Assisted+Joining+for+a+Flexible+Touch-Panel+Application.">Room-Temperature Nanosoldering of a Very Long Metal Nanowire Network by Conducting-Polymer-Assisted Joining for a Flexible Touch-Panel Application.</a> Adv. Funct. Mater. 23 (34), 4171-4176 (2013).</li><li>Tokuno, T., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Fabrication+of+silver+nanowire+transparent+electrodes+at+room+temperature.">Fabrication of silver nanowire transparent electrodes at room temperature.</a> Nano Res. 4 (12), 1215-1222 (2011).</li><li>Garnett, E. C., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Self-limited+plasmonic+welding+of+silver+nanowire+junctions.">Self-limited plasmonic welding of silver nanowire junctions.</a> Nat. Mater. 11 (3), 241-249 (2012).</li><li>Zhu, S., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Transferable+self-welding+silver+nanowire+network+as+high+performance+transparent+flexible+electrode.">Transferable self-welding silver nanowire network as high performance transparent flexible electrode.</a> Nanotechnology. 24 (10), 1321-1327 (2013).</li><li>Han, S., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Fast+Plasmonic+Laser+Nanowelding+for+a+Cu-Nanowire+Percolation+Network+for+Flexible+Transparent+Conductors+and+Stretchable+Electronics.">Fast Plasmonic Laser Nanowelding for a Cu-Nanowire Percolation Network for Flexible Transparent Conductors and Stretchable Electronics.</a> Adv. Mater. 26 (33), 5808-5814 (2014).</li><li>Chen, S. P., Liao, Y. C. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Highly+stretchable+and+conductive+silver+nanowire+thin+films+formed+by+soldering+nanomesh+junctions.">Highly stretchable and conductive silver nanowire thin films formed by soldering nanomesh junctions.</a> Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 16 (37), 19856-19860 (2014).</li><li>Chen, S. P., Kao, Z. K., Lin, J. L., Liao, Y. C. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Silver+conductive+features+on+flexible+substrates+from+a+thermally+accelerated+chain+reaction+at+low+sintering+temperatures.">Silver conductive features on flexible substrates from a thermally accelerated chain reaction at low sintering temperatures.</a> ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces. 4 (12), 7064-7068 (2012).</li></ol>

The chemical soldering process can help reinforce the contact between silver nanowires. As shown in Figure 4b, the wire/wire junctions are covered with silver after applying the reactive silver ink over the spray coated AgNW thin film. The silver recovery relies strongly on the formaldehyde generated from DEA degradation, and thus the soldering process or silver reduction can be accelerated with increasing temperature.22 Because the metal surfaces of AgNWs provide effective electron exchange s...

Deformable electronic devices with large stretchability have been identified as critical parts to the realization of wearable and portable electronics in the next generation.1 Those stretchable electronic devices not only show great flexibility as those electronic devices on plastic sheets,2, 3 but also exhibit excellent performance under severe stretching or twisting conditions.4 To realize the stretchable electronics, materials with great electric performance under large deformation is needed. Recent advancements in material sciences have shown the possibility to synthesize such functional materials and have used them to design stretchable optoelectronic devices 5-9 with great tolerance to complex shape deformations. Among all the electronic functional materials, stretchable conductors are necessary to supply electrical power to those optoelectronic devices and thus are of critical importance for device performance. Because regular conducting materials, like metal or indium tin oxide, lack of mechanical robustness under large deformation, interconnects made of these materials are unable to exhibit good electrical conductivity under stretching process. Thus, elastic substrates covered with a thin layer of flexible conductive materials, such as carbon nanotube,1 graphene,10 or AgNWs,11-14 are designed for conductors with excellent stretchability. Because of the high bulk conductivity, AgNW thin films have been shown to be the most promising material for composite stretchable conductors.13 The percolating networks of AgNW thin films can effectively accommodate large elastic deformations in stretching process with great electrical conductance, and are considered as a promising stretchable electrode candidate. To implement AgNW thin films as stretchable conductors, it is necessary to have effective electrical contacts between AgNWs. After liquid deposition and drying on substrate surfaces, AgNWs regularly stack together to form a percolating mesh with loose contact points, which yield in large electrical resistances. Thus, one needs to anneal the contacts between nanowires by high-temperature or high-pressure annealing methods15-20 to reduce the contact resistances.
In contrast to these annealing processes in the literature, here, we will demonstrate a simple chemical method to anneal AgNW network connections under regular laboratory conditions.21 The fabrication process is shown in Figure 4A. A reactive ink is used to sinter the spray coated AgNW thin films on a glass plate. After reaction, the contacts between nanowires are covered with silver and hence the AgNW network is soldered chemically together. A cast-and-peel method is then used to transfer the soldered AgNW network to a stretchable PU substrate to form a composite conductor, which can exhibit no obvious change in electrical conductivity even at large tensile strain of 120%.

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="833">
	<tbody>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:173px;">Silver nanowire</td>
			<td style="width:195px;">Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td style="width:117px;">778095-25ML</td>
			<td style="width:349px;">AgNW, 120 nm in diameter and 20-50 mm in length, 0.5 wt% in IPA</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;">Silver nitrate crystal</td>
			<td>Macron Fine Chemicals</td>
			<td>MK216903</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;">Diethanolamine</td>
			<td>Sigma-Aldrich</td>
			<td>D8885-500G</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;">Polyurethane emulsion</td>
			<td>First Chemical</td>
			<td>20130326036</td>
			<td>35 wt% water-based anionic polyester-polyurethane emulsion</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;">Airbrush</td>
			<td>Taiwan Airbrush &#38; Equipment</td>
			<td>AFC-sensor&#160;</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;">Desktop robot</td>
			<td>Dispenser Tech</td>
			<td>DT-200&#160;</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;">Digital dispenser controller</td>
			<td>Dispenser Tech</td>
			<td>9000E&#160;</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="42">
			<td height="42" style="height:42px;width:173px;">Auto-spraying program</td>
			<td style="width:195px;">Dispenser Tech</td>
			<td style="width:117px;">Smart robot edit version 3.0.0.5</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;">Air compressor&#160;</td>
			<td>PUMA Industrial</td>
			<td>NCS-10&#160;</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;">Linear motorized stage</td>
			<td>TANLIAN E-O</td>
			<td>Customized</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:173px;">Stage control software</td>
			<td style="width:195px;">TANLIAN E-O</td>
			<td style="width:117px;">Customized</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;">Digital multimeter</td>
			<td>HILA INTERNATIONAL</td>
			<td>DM-2690TU</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:173px;">Digital multimeter software</td>
			<td style="width:195px;">HILA INTERNATIONAL</td>
			<td style="width:117px;">NA</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;">Power supply</td>
			<td>CHERN TAIH</td>
			<td>CT-605</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;">LED</td>
			<td>PChome</td>
			<td>M08330766</td>
			<td>http://www.pcstore.com.tw/sun-flower/M08330766.htm</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

a fabrication method for highly stretchable conductors with silver nanowires

Stretchable electronics are identified as a key technology for electronic applications in the next generation. One of the challenges in fabrication of stretchable electronic devices is the preparation of stretchable conductors with great mechanical stability. In this study, we developed a simple fabrication method to chemically solder the contact points between silver nanowire (AgNW) networks. AgNW nanomesh was first deposited on a glass slide via spray coating method. A reactive ink composed of silver nanoparticle (AgNPs) precursors was applied over the spray coated AgNW thin films. After heating for 40 min, AgNPs were preferentially generated over the nanowire junctions to solder the AgNW nanomesh, and reinforced the conducting network. The chemically modified AgNW thin film was then transferred to polyurethane (PU) substrates by casting method. The soldered AgNW thin films on PU exhibited no obvious change in electrical conductivity under stretching or rolling process with elongation strains up to 120%.

The morphology of the AgNW thin film after chemical soldering process is shown in Figure 4B. Recovered AgNPs preferentially grow on the surface of AgNWs and wrap over the wire/wire junctions. Figure 5 shows the variation in sheet resistance with applied elongation strains for the unsoldered and the soldered thin films containing different amount of AgNWs. After the chemical soldering process, AgNW thin film conductors can maintain high conductivity under ...

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about A Fabrication Method for Highly Stretchable Conductors with Silver Nanowires at JoVE.com

A Fabrication Method for Highly Stretchable Conductors with Silver Nanowires

A simple synthesis method is used to chemically solder silver nanowire thin film to fabricate highly stretchable and conductive metal conductors.

Stretchable electronics are identified as a key technology for electronic applications in the next generation. One of the challenges in fabrication of ...

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