Overcoming Temperature‐Induced Degradation of Silver Nanowire Electrodes by an Ag@SnO x Core‐Shell Approach

• Published in: Advanced electronic materials Vol. 8; no. 7
• Main Authors: Kalancha, Violetta, These, Albert, Vogl, Lilian, Levchuk, Ievgen, Zhou, Xin, Barr, Maïssa, Bruns, Mark, Bachmann, Julien, Virtanen, Sannakaisa, Spiecker, Erdmann, Osvet, Andres, Brabec, Christoph J., Forberich, Karen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01-07-2022
• ISSN: 2199-160X; 2199-160X
• DOI: 10.1002/aelm.202100787

Abstract
Transparent electrodes consisting of silver nanowires (Ag NWs) are a solution‐processed alternative to commonly used indium tin oxide electrodes. Here, Ag NW electrodes protected by a tin oxide (SnO
x
) are explored and unprecedented thermal stability is found. While unprotected Ag NW electrodes fail at 250 °C, the SnO
x
Ag NW electrodes remain stable for 40 h at 250 °C and withstand high temperatures up to 500 °C for short times. First, an optimized method of synthesis that provides uniform Ag NWs with high reproducibility is used. Afterward, a SnO
x
shell is formed in a wet chemical reaction. Fabrication of highly conductive electrodes requires thermal annealing at 300 °C for 5 min under ambient atmosphere. Electrodes with a sheet resistance as low as 20 Ω sq
‐1
and visible transmittance of 84% are demonstrated. It is shown that a ≈2 nm thick SnO
x
shell effectively protects the Ag NWs in a temperature range between 200 and 500 °C, whereas unprotected Ag NWs suddenly fail at temperatures beyond 200 °C. It is strongly anticipated that these improvements in the stability of Ag NWs open a large field of further investigations and applications.