Developing high performance, low cost, transparent electrodes for large area touchscreens

智能手机上的小触摸屏很常见。将触摸屏功能扩展到黑板大小的屏幕，对于允许多个演示者输入的讨论非常有用。这一能力可以增强通过互联网链接实现的全球会议，供教育、行业和政府使用。柔性屏幕在医疗保健和汽车行业受到追捧。公司和投资者现在将该地区视为一个竞争激烈的国际市场空间。我们的目标是开发新的材料、设计和具有成本竞争力的制造方法，可扩展到对手指或指示笔触摸敏感的电子黑板的大规模生产。透明电极(TE)不仅是触摸屏的必备组件，也是太阳能电池和智能窗户的必需组件，用于改善建筑物的能源管理。氧化铟锡(ITO)以其独特的高导电性和透明性是最著名的TE材料，但其价格波动、大型面板的高材料和制造成本以及脆性行为促使人们转向替代材料。我们的行业合作伙伴致力于开发和推出具有竞争力的大型触摸屏设备。在我们的合作中，我们通过两个为期六个月的小型项目赠款，利用NSERC的支持，展示了一种替代的TES制造方法，该方法使用电场定向链接在廉价的玻璃和柔性基板上连接金属纳米线。这种方法以较低的成本提供了所需的透明度和导电性的平衡。通过这项前期工作，我们成功地将电极面积放大了100倍。这项提案寻求为一项研究计划提供资金，该计划旨在为TES设计和合成具有低电阻、高透明度和持久性能的新材料。我们将创造方法，将我们的技术扩展到具有成本竞争力的大规模生产TES的米级面积。我们将提出并测试新的配置，以增强触摸敏感度。

Small touchscreens on smartphones are commonplace. Extending touch screen capability to blackboard-sized screens is useful for discussions allowing input from multiple presenters. This capability can enhance global meetings enabled by internet links, for the use of education, industry and government. Flexible screens are sought in healthcare and automotive industries. Companies and investors now see the area as a competitive international market space. We aim to develop new materials, designs and cost-competitive manufacturing methods scalable for mass production of electronic blackboards, sensitive to finger or stylus touch. Transparent electrodes (TEs) are a required component, not only for touch screens, but also for solar cells and smart windows, used for improved energy management in buildings. Indium tin oxide (ITO) is the best-known TE material with its unique of high conductivity and transparency, but its price volatility, high material and manufacturing cost for large panels, as well as brittle behavior, motivate work towards alternate materials. Our industry partner is engaged in developing and bringing large touch screen devices competitively to market. In our work together, using support from NSERC through two small six-month engagement grants, we have demonstrated an alternative manufacturing method for TEs using electric-field-directed chaining of metallic nanowires on inexpensive glass and flexible substrates. This method provides the required balance of transparency and conductivity at reduced cost. We have successfully demonstrated a scale-up in electrode area by a factor of 100 through this preliminary work. This proposal seeks funding for a research program to design and synthesize new materials for TEs with low electrical resistance, high transparency and long-lasting properties. We will create methods to extend our technique to cost-competitive mass-production of TEs over metre-scale areas. We will propose and test new configurations to enable enhanced touch sensitivity.