Keywords:

Silver nanowires, stability, metal oxide, percolation

Abstract

This study is focused on the fabrication and optimization of Transparent Electrodes (TEs) based on silver Nanowires (AgNW) networks. High quality, mechanically flexible, and environmentally stable electrodes are fabricated using air-brush spray procedure. Addressing the lack of efficient thermal/ electrical stability, was the main focus of experimental studies in the scope of this thesis. We have chosen AP-SALD deposited thin coatings of metal oxides (a few tens of nanometers) to enhance the stability of AgNW based TEs. Samples of bilayer ZnO/ Al₂O₃ coatings showed excellent stability after 6 cycles of annealing from room temperature to 450 °C. The results presented in this work indicate a path to low-cost, highly stable, and transparent composite electrodes based on AgNWs and oxide coatings.

Also, we have used Monte Carlo simulations to investigate the percolation behavior of networks composed of random nano-objects with different orders of symmetry to find the elemental shapes with the lowest possible percolation threshold. Our findings can be used as a guideline for chemists to synthesize new shapes of nano-objects that offer outstanding electro-optical properties.