Post‐Treatment of Screen‐Printed Silver Nanowire Networks for Highly Conductive Flexible Transparent Films
Dongdong Li, Wen‐Yong Lai, Feng Fang, Wei Huang
Abstract
Abstract Screen printing is an important technique for creating 2D conductive patterns with high conductivity and resolution. Non‐conductive additives are thus required in printable ink formulation in order to achieve appropriate viscosity and rheological behaviors. However, it is still a challenge to recover the conductivity of the printed networks after screen printing, while keeping the integrity of the patterns during repeated water‐washing. Herein, a series of post‐treatments are introduced into the washing process in order to achieve high‐quality silver nanowire (Ag NW) transparent conductive films. Screen‐printed patterns can be well maintained because of the enhanced adhesion between the Ag NW networks and flexible poly(ethylene terephthalate) substrates. High‐performance transparent conductive film with extremely low sheet resistance (0.72 Ω sq −1 ) is achieved by combining plasma treatment, thermal annealing, and high pressure, making screen‐printed Ag NW conductive networks promising to be used in the next‐generation flexible optoelectronic devices.