Abstract
This work demonstrates an one-step process to synthesize uniformly dispersed hybrid nanomaterial containing silver nanowires (AgNWs) and p-type reduced graphene (p-rGO). The hybrid nanomaterial was coated onto a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate to prepare high performance flexible transparent conductive films (TCFs). The p-rGO plays the role of bridging discrete AgNWs, providing more electron holes, and lowering the resistance of the contacted AgNWs, which enhances the electrical conductivity without sacrificing too much transparence of the TCFs. In addition, the p-rGO also improves the adhesion between AgNWs and substrate by covering the AgNWs on substrate tightly. The study shows that coating of the hybrid nanomaterials on the PET substrate demonstrates exceptional optoelectronic properties with a transmittance of 94.68% (at a wavelength of 550 nm) and a sheet resistance of 25.0 ohm/sq. Furthermore, no significant variation in electric resistance can be detected even though the film was subjected to a bend loading with a radius of curvature of 5.0 mm or the film was loaded with a reciprocal tension or compression for 1000 cycles. The study shows that the fabricated flexible TCFs have the potential to replace indium tin oxide film in the optoelectronic industry.