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Roll-to-Roll Encapsulation of Metal Nanowires between Graphene and Plastic Substrate for High-Performance Flexible Transparent Electrodes

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posted on 2015-06-10, 00:00 authored by Bing Deng, Po-Chun Hsu, Guanchu Chen, B. N. Chandrashekar, Lei Liao, Zhawulie Ayitimuda, Jinxiong Wu, Yunfan Guo, Li Lin, Yu Zhou, Mahaya Aisijiang, Qin Xie, Yi Cui, Zhongfan Liu, Hailin Peng
Transparent conductive film on plastic substrate is a critical component in low-cost, flexible, and lightweight optoelectronics. Industrial-scale manufacturing of high-performance transparent conductive flexible plastic is needed to enable wide-ranging applications. Here, we demonstrate a continuous roll-to-roll (R2R) production of transparent conductive flexible plastic based on a metal nanowire network fully encapsulated between graphene monolayer and plastic substrate. Large-area graphene film grown on Cu foil via a R2R chemical vapor deposition process was hot-laminated onto nanowires precoated EVA/PET film, followed by a R2R electrochemical delamination that preserves the Cu foil for reuse. The encapsulated structure minimized the resistance of both wire-to-wire junctions and graphene grain boundaries and strengthened adhesion of nanowires and graphene to plastic substrate, resulting in superior optoelectronic properties (sheet resistance of ∼8 Ω sq–1 at 94% transmittance), remarkable corrosion resistance, and excellent mechanical flexibility. With these advantages, long-cycle life flexible electrochromic devices are demonstrated, showing up to 10000 cycles.

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