One-step rod coating of high-performance silver nanowire–PEDOT:PSS flexible electrodes with enhanced adhesion after sulfuric acid post-treatment

Abstract

Excellent optoelectric and adhesive properties are two crucial parts for the application of transparent conductive electrodes (TCEs). In this work, AgNWs are composited with PEDOT:PSS to prepare high-performance TCEs using a one-step rod-coating approach, where AgNWs are buried in PEDOT:PSS resulting in largely weakened roughness and lowered sheet resistance from 164 Ω sq⁻¹ to 16 Ω sq⁻¹ at 90.4% optical transmittance. Besides, the addition of Zonyl improved the wettability of hydrophilic PEDOT:PSS on hydrophobic substrates, which enhanced the adhesion of the AgNWs–PEDOT:PSS film. A sulfuric acid post-process further strengthened the interaction between PEDOT:PSS and the organic substrate contributing improved adhesion of the AgNWs–PEDOT:PSS composite film. The as-prepared film exhibits favorable stability in both cyclic deformations and solvent environments. The solution-processed fabrication, outstanding photoelectric performance and strong adhesion imparts the AgNWs–PEDOT:PSS with tremendous potential in the application of flexible electronics.