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

该小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目旨在开发一种比铟掺杂氧化锡（ITO）性能更好、成本更低的柔性透明导体。这种方法是生产由银纳米线的稀疏网格组成的光滑薄膜，这种薄膜具有高度的导电性和柔性，但可以高效地传输光。在实验室规模上制备的膜已经证明对于给定的透明度具有更高的电导率，并且比可用的最导电的ITO具有更高的总电导率。该项目将专注于工业应用所需的高产量大面积导电薄膜的生产和图案化工艺开发。该项目的广泛/商业影响将是提供比ITO性能更好的透明导电薄膜，同时大幅降低成本和更好的机械灵活性。透明导体是光电器件的关键部件，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器件所需性能的主要透明导体。然而，随着铟供应的减少和光电器件需求的增长，ITO的价格一直在稳步上涨。此外，ITO是脆性材料，不能用于柔性器件。银纳米线薄膜不受这些限制，因此有望成为ITO的低成本替代品，并成为一种使柔性电子市场得以出现的技术。

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.