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Silver Nanowires

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Handbook of Visual Display Technology

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Abstract

Optoelectronic devices such as displays and touch screens require transparent conductive electrodes (TCEs), which are typically composed of indium tin oxide (ITO) due to its low sheet resistance and high transparency. Despite these preferred properties for TCEs in optoelectronic devices, ITO is limited by poor mechanical properties, scarce indium resources, and expensive manufacturing methods (Kumar and Zhou 2010). Recent efforts to develop an alternative TCE suitable for flexible and robust optoelectronic devices have rendered encouraging results for various materials such as carbon nanotubes, graphene, conductive polymers, metal oxides, and metallic nanowires (Li et al. 2009; Bae et al. 2010; Wu et al. 2004, 2010; Gruner 2006; Rathmell and Wiley 2011; Hecht et al. 2011; Hu et al. 2011). Among these reports, TCEs formed from networks of silver nanowires (Ag NWs) have emerged as a competitive alternative to ITO (Ellmer 2012). The following sections summarize how Ag NW networks may form high-performance TCEs based on their optical, electronic, and mechanical properties by controlling the synthesis of the Ag NWs and the fabrication method of the electrode. This comprehensive review reveals that Ag NW TCEs not only exhibit high transparency, low sheet resistance, and high flexibility but may also introduce unique properties such as optical haze, scratch resistance, and printable manufacturing that open up new avenues, sometimes challenges, for cheaper display devices with higher performance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Maryland, College Park, College Park, MD, USA

    Colin Preston & Liangbing Hu

Authors
  1. Colin Preston
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  2. Liangbing Hu
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Correspondence to Colin Preston .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Industrial Technology Research Institute Display Technology Center, Hsin Chu, Taiwan

    Janglin Chen

  2. Nottingham Trent University School of Computing & Informatics, Nottingham, United Kingdom

    Wayne Cranton

  3. Veritas et Visus, Temple, TX, USA

    Mark Fihn

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© 2015 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Preston, C., Hu, L. (2015). Silver Nanowires. In: Chen, J., Cranton, W., Fihn, M. (eds) Handbook of Visual Display Technology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-35947-7_180-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-35947-7_180-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-35947-7

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