Thermally induced percolational transition and thermal stability of silver nanowire networks studied by THz spectroscopy.

Great demand toward flexible optoelectronic devices finds metal nanowires (NWs) the most promising flexible transparent conducting material with superior mechanical properties. However, ultrathin metal nanowires suffer from relatively poor thermal stability and sheet conductance, attributed to the poor adhesivity of the ohmic contact between nanowires. Thermal heating and annealing at 200 °C increase the conductivity of the metal network, but prolonged annealing accelerates the breakage of NWs near the NW junction and the formation of Ag droplets.

Realization of metal-insulator transition and oxidation in silver nanowire percolating networks by terahertz reflection spectroscopy.

Metal nanowires (NWs) enable versatile applications in printed electronics and optoelectronics by serving as thin and flexible transparent electrodes. The performance of metal NWs as thin electrodes is highly correlated to the connectivity of NW meshes. The percolation threshold of metal NW films corresponds to the minimum density of NWs to form the transparent, yet conductive metal NW networks.