All solution-processed silver nanowires composite silica nanospheres antireflection structure with synergetic optoelectronic performance

Abstract

Silver nanowires (AgNWs) have shown great promise as transparent conductive films (TCFs) due to their excellent optoelectronic performance. In order to replace indium tin oxide (ITO), considerable intricate methods have been adopted in combination, thus largely restricting their large-scale applications. Currently, it remains a concern that the research on AgNWs-based TCFs is still required great efforts to balance the high optical transparency and low resistance simultaneously. Here, we deposited AgNWs network onto silica nanospheres (SNSs) antireflection (AR) layer via a facile solution method. The assembled SNSs structure can effectively reduce reflection of the substrate. AgNWs-based composite TCFs achieve optical transmittance of 99.84%, elevating the transmittance by 6.94% with the sheet resistance reaching 49.43 Ω sq⁻¹ declined by 8.66% compared to the pristine AgNWs film. Due to the surface adsorption of nanospheres and the mutual electrophilic effect, the interaction between AgNWs and SNSs is strong, hence exerting the synergetic effect on optoelectronic performance. Furthermore, the results have demonstrated that SNSs AR nanostructure contributes to moderating the interface property of pristine AgNWs film, indicating that it is favorable to ameliorate the impact of increased surface roughness stemming from the interwoven nanowires network structure. The whole solution-processed AgNWs/SNSs composite films in our work bring about great potential engineering for transparent conductors or other optoelectronic devices.