Active-Matrix Electrochemical Display Based on Stable Crosslinked-Silver Nanowires

In recent years, advances in technology for flexible optoelectronics have attracted considerable attention. According to the industrial demands, numerous types of research have been devoted to improving the performance of these devices. The transparent electrodes, which are an essential component in flexible optoelectronics, must satisfy the optimum compromise between optical transparency, electrical conductivity, and mechanical flexibility. Silver nanowires (AgNWs) based on percolating networks have been considered the most promising transparent electrodes; because they yield a low sheet resistance at high optical transmittance and high mechanical flexibility with their physical properties attributed to a high-aspect ratio. Moreover, AgNWs have also several advantages of low-cost processing and compatibility with large-area deposition owing to the simple solution process.<br/>Although AgNWs networks possess these outstanding characteristics, it is still a great challenge to utilize AgNWs adequately in integrated electronic devices due to the inherent characteristics of high surface roughness, low work function, instability in the air, and poor adhesion to plastic substrates. Additionally, high-resolution patterning of AgNWs with desired line width and line spacing must be developed to extend the application of complicated optoelectronics. Herein, we report a simple processing method for fabricating high-resolution AgNWs patterns using a solution-processable crosslinking agent. A crosslinker referred to as 2Bx_4EO, which can be dissolved in alcohol solvents is applicable to various materials containing alkyl chains. In this study, patterned AgNWs were obtained by crosslinking polyvinylpyrrolidone from nanowires synthesized by the polyol process. Moreover, the strategy of selective wetting of conductive polymer only onto AgNWs patterns was employed for complementing the inherent characteristics of AgNWs. Furthermore, we demonstrate the application of AgNWs/polymer hybrid conductive films to fabricate organic electrochemical transistors and electrochromic cells.