Polymers 2017, 9(1), 28; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym9010028
Flexible Transparent Electrode of Hybrid Ag-Nanowire/Reduced-Graphene-Oxide Thin Film on PET Substrate Prepared Using H2/Ar Low-Damage Plasma
1
Department of Materials Engineering, Ming Chi University of Technology, 84 Gungjuan Rd., Taishan Dist., New Taipei City 243, Taiwan
2
Material and Chemical Research Laboratories, Industrial Technology Research Institute, 195, Sec. 4, Chung Hsin Rd., Chutung, Hsinchu 300, Taiwan
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Academic Editor: Jinlian Hu
Received: 11 November 2016 / Revised: 5 January 2017 / Accepted: 10 January 2017 / Published: 13 January 2017
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functionally Responsive Polymeric Materials)
Abstract
We employ H2/Ar low-damage plasma treatment (H2/Ar-LDPT) to reduce graphene oxide (GO) coating on a polymer substrate—polyethylene terephthalate (PET)—with the assistance of atomic hydrogen (Hα) at low temperature of 70 °C. Four-point probing and ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy demonstrate that the conductivity and transmittance can be controlled by varying the H2/Ar flow rate, treatment time, and radio-frequency (RF) power. Optical emission spectroscopy reveals that the Hα intensity depends on these processing parameters, which influence the removal of oxidative functional groups (confirmed via X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy) to yield reduced GO (rGO). To further improve the conductivity while maintaining high transmittance, we introduce silver nanowires (AgNWs) between rGO and a PET substrate to obtain a hybrid rGO/AgNWs/PET with a sheet resistance of ~100 Ω/sq and 81% transmittance. In addition, the hybrid rGO/AgNWs thin film also shows high flexibility and durability and is suitable for flexible and wearable electronics applications. View Full-Text
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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. (CC BY 4.0).
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Huang, C.-H.; Wang, Y.-Y.; Lu, T.-H.; Li, Y.-C. Flexible Transparent Electrode of Hybrid Ag-Nanowire/Reduced-Graphene-Oxide Thin Film on PET Substrate Prepared Using H2/Ar Low-Damage Plasma. Polymers 2017, 9, 28.
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