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

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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.