Improved adhesion of printed Ag electrodes for flexible transparent display applications

Abstract

Strong and stable adhesion of conductive layers on substrates is crucial for the operation and performance of electronic devices, and several attempts have been made to achieve this goal. We report all inkjet-printed electrodes with strong and stable adhesion between conductive layers and flexible polyether sulfone substrates, where ink based on silver nanoparticles was used for metal layers and dielectric ink for intermediate adhesion layers. Quantitative measurements of adhesion properties using an adhesion test and convex tensile bending test revealed negligible and limited resistance changes, respectively. The strong adhesion properties indicated that all inkjet printed Ag electrodes are highly suitable for applications in wearable devices and flexible displays.