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
Polymers 2017, 9(1), 28; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym9010028
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)
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.
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MDPI and ACS Style
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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