SBIR Phase I: Scale Manufacturing and Lifetime Study of Nanostructured Composite Transparent Electrodes

这个小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目旨在开发一种比掺铟氧化锡(ITO)更好的性能和更低的成本的柔性透明导体。方法是生产由稀疏的银纳米线网状物组成的光滑薄膜，这种薄膜具有高导电性和灵活性，但透光率高。在实验室规模上制备的薄膜在给定的透明度下表现出更高的导电率，并且总导电率比现有的最导电性的ITO更高。该项目将专注于以工业应用所需的高通量生产和构图大面积导电薄膜的工艺开发。该项目的更广泛/商业影响将是以显著更低的成本和更好的机械灵活性提供比ITO更好的性能的透明导电薄膜的潜力。透明导体是光电子器件的重要组成部分，包括液晶显示器(LCD)、发光二极管(LED)、电容式触摸屏、太阳能电池、电子墨水阅读器等。ITO是目前使用的满足这些设备要求的主要透明导体。然而，随着铟供应的减少和对光电设备的需求增长，ITO的价格一直在稳步上涨。此外，ITO是一种脆性材料，不能用于柔性设备。银纳米线薄膜不会受到这些限制，因此有望成为ITO的低成本替代品，并成为一种使灵活的电子市场出现的使能技术。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project aims to develop a flexible transparent conductor with better performance and lower cost than indium-doped tin oxide (ITO). The approach is to produce smooth films composed of sparse meshes of silver nanowires, which are highly conductive and flexible, yet transmit light with high efficiency. Films prepared on a laboratory scale have demonstrated higher conductivity for a given transparency, and higher total conductivity than the most conductive ITO available. This project will focus on process development for the production and patterning of large-area conductive films at high throughputs required by industrial applications.The broader/commercial impact of this project will be the potential to provide transparent conductive films with better performance than ITO at significantly lower cost and better mechanical flexibility. Transparent conductors are crucial parts of optoelectronic devices, including liquid crystal displays (LCDs), light emitting diodes (LEDs), capacitive touch screens, solar cells, electronic ink readers, and others. ITO is the primary transparent conductor currently in use that meets the performance required by these devices. However, the price of ITO has been increasing steadily as the supply of indium dwindles and demand for optoelectronic devices grows. Furthermore, ITO is a brittle material and cannot be used in flexible devices. Silver nanowire films do not suffer from these limitations, and thus are expected to be a low-cost alternative to ITO and an enabling technology that allows the flexible electronics market to emerge.