Preparation of Double-Layer Crossed Silver Nanowire Film and Its Application to OLED
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
This article is devoted to obatining conducting polymer films by orientation of silver nanowires under shear stress. Novelty of work should be highlighted in introduction. There are a lot of missprints and inaccuracy in text in figures. Some examples are given below:
1) p. 1, line 30. Space missed. Should be "4.8 ev" instead "4.8ev"
2) p.1 line 34, spca missed. Shoul be "resistance (3)" instead "resistance(3)"
3) p. 2, line 89. I guess that "11111" is missprint
4) fig. 1, different font size on pannels
5) fig. 2 and fig. 3 could be united in one figure
6) fig. 3,4,5 caption should be detailed: is it optic microscopy or just photo
7) fig. 5, caption. Where is double cross on figure? Could be unitrd with fig. 3 and 4
8) fig. 6. Details on figure caption should be given: thickness of Ag nanowires film, substrate and other
9) fig. 7. Labels for panels are missed (no a) and b)). Panel a) is strangely rotated; panel b) is bad quality of image: hard to distinguish lines and read numbers
10) fig. 8. Labels for panels are missed (no a) and b)). Figure is shifted to left part
11) Through all text should be written as "MoS2" instead "MoS2"
12) more clear division to experimental part and results should be given. For example, p. 2, line 85-89. COnrecte procedure of AgNWs preparation should be given. This part looks like part of introduction. How shear was achived for AgNWs orientation? How exactly conductivity was measured?
13) fig. 11. Labels for panels are missed (no a) and b)). Figure is shifted to left part. Scale bar on pannel a) should be added
14) Why authors use MoS2? It appears in text suddenly on p. 6
Overall, this work need to be reconsider after more accurate presentation of the results
Author Response
Thank you for your valuable suggestions and comments. We have thoroughly revised the manuscript according to your comments and suggestions. The modification and reply of the manuscript are as follows.
Novelty of work has be highlighted in introduction. For example, we have added the following sentence: Ordered silver nanowires (AgNWs) film can effectively reduce the density of nodes, reduce the roughness of the film, and increase its conductivity and transmittance.
A lot of missprints and inaccuracy in text in figures have been revised. Some examples are given below:
(1) "4.8ev" has been replaced by "4.8 ev".
(2) "resistance(3)" has been replaced by "resistance; (3)"
(3) "11111" is missprint, and it has been deleted in the revised manuscript.
(4) different font size on pannels has been revised as the same font size.
(5) Fig. 2 and Fig. 3 have been be united in one figure in the revised manuscript.
(6) Fig. 3,4,5 have been relabeled as Fig. 2(b), Fig. 3 in the revised manuscript. They are all Optical microscope images. In the revised manuscript, The captions have been improved.
(7) Fig. 3,4,5 have been relabeled as Fig. 2(b), Fig. 3(a)(b) and Fig. 3(c) in the revised manuscript. Double cross have been marked in the new Fig. 3(c).
(8) Fig. 6 has been relabeled as Fig. 4 In the revised manuscript, the following sentence has been added: “In this case, the roughness of the silver nanowire film is 33 nm and the average thickness is about 46 nm.”
(9) Fig. 7 has been relabeled as Fig. 5 in the revised manuscript. Panel labels are added.
(10) Fig. 8 has been relabeled as Fig. 6 in the revised manuscript. Panel labels are added. The Figure has moved to the middle in the revised manuscript.
(11) All "MoS2" has been replaced by "MoS2".
(12) More clear division to experimental part and results should. In the first paragraphof Sec. 2.2, the following sentence has been added in the revised manuscript: “Ethylene glycol solution of AgNWs was purchased from Vigon Technology. The average diameter of the AgNWs is about 25 nm and its length is about from 20-30μm.”
(13)Fig. 11 has been relabeled as Fig. 9 in the revised manuscript. Panel labels are added. The Figure has moved to the middle in the revised manuscript. Scale bar on pannel a) has been added.
(14)The reason we use MoS2 is that MoS2 can effectively reduce the surface roughness of Silver Nanowire Films, prevent silver nanowires from being oxidized in air for a long time, and reduce the work function in the preparation of devices.
Reviewer 2 Report
Please correct the English language, as some errors occur or sometimes the text looks like laboratory notes.
Explain what is "12a uniform spin-ocating instrument". What is the meaning of "12a" in the name of your spin-coater?
"pet" should be written in capitals.
The descirption of the image 8 can be simplified, as you mention twice the fact that a) is before MoS2 sputtering and b) is after.
You talk about the cleaning of the Si substrate. What for? I mean there is no Si substrate which appears in the structure of the OLED, so why do you need an Si substrate?
Author Response
Thank you for your valuable suggestions and comments. We have thoroughly revised the manuscript according to your comments and suggestions. The modification and reply of the manuscript are as follows.
(1) English expression is improved.
(2) "12a uniform spin-ocating instrument" is the model name of the spin coating equipment named by the spin coating equipment manufacturing company. “12a” has been deleted in the revised manuscript.
(3)"pet" has been written in capitals in the revised manuscript.
(4) Fig. 8 has been relabeled as Fig. 6 in the revised manuscript. The cantion of New Fig. 6 is simplified.
(5)“Si substrate” is missprint, and it has been replaced by “PET substrate”
Reviewer 3 Report
The paper is truly interesting, and the potential of nanowire structures should be highlighted in the OLED community
However, in the presented form, the draft should not be accepted for publication
Comments
The caption in Figure 2 should be detailed, what kind of mixing, laminar or turbulent, speed, etc. (physical details are crucial)
The quality of figures 3, 4, and 5 should be improved(contrast, brightness,visibility )
Figure 6 should be discussed in detail. What is the physical origin of observed spectral fringes? Why did the authors observe fewer fringes in the thicker film (bilayers)? How do authors' observation scales with previously published data and with simulation?
Discussion and conclusion should be more enlarged and detailed regarding physics, the link between material structure, and OLED properties.
Based on the criticism mentioned above, I recommend the major revision of this draft.
Author Response
Thank you for your valuable suggestions and comments. We have thoroughly revised the manuscript according to your comments and suggestions. The modification and reply of the manuscript are as follows.
(1)The caption in Fig. 2 has added the information “the beaker diameter is 5cm and the rotating speed is 400 r/min”.
(2)For better comparison, Fig. 2 and Fig 3 have united in one figure, and Fig. 4 and Fig. 5 have been united in one figure in the revised manuscript. Cross have been marked in the new Fig. 3(c).
(3) Fig. 6 has been relabeled as Fig. 4 In the revised manuscript, the following sentence has been added: “In this case, the roughness of the silver nanowire film is 33 nm and the average thickness is about 46 nm.”New Fig. 4 shows the transmittance. When a beam of light is hit on the sensor through the air, the light intensity ratio is 1 by default. Place the film between the light source and the sensor. Because the film will block part of the light, the light intensity received by the sensor is relatively weak.Due to the thick film, the light intensity of measuring light passing through the film to the sensor is relatively weak.
(4) Discussion and conclusion have been enlarged. The following contents are added to the manscript: Higher work function can effectively reduce the starting voltage of the device, so it can prolong the service life of the device and increase the luminous height of the device.
Reviewer 4 Report
The manuscript entitled “Preparation of double-layer crossed silver nanowires film and its application to OLED” describes a novel experimental technique to prepare double AgNWs thin film and its application as anode in OLED architecture. The conclusions are supported by the experimental results. The manuscript is of relatively good quality, however, some points should be addressed prior to publication in Coatings:
Preparation:
It is unclear from the text if the PET film, the AgNWs, the MoS2 and so on are commercial products or they were synthesized by the authors. This should be noted in the text alongside with manufacturer name and purity of the materials.
Page 3 line 106: For how long was the PET treated under UV light? What kind of UV light source was used, what was the power of the UV source and the wavelength of the emitted light ?
Characterization:
Description of the equipment should be included. Manufacturer and model of the UV-Vis spectrometer used for the transmittance measurements, manufacturer and model of the AFM, the spin coater and so on.
When comparing their device with an ITO based OLED the authors did not specify if the difference is only in the anode (ITO and AgNWs) or they compared their AgNWs based OLED with commercially available ITO-based OLED.
Author Response
Thank you for your valuable suggestions and comments. We have thoroughly revised the manuscript according to your comments and suggestions. The modification and reply of the manuscript are as follows.
(1) PET film, the AgNWs, the MoS2 are all commercial products. In the revised manuscript, the information of PET film, the AgNWs, the MoS2 have been added in Sec. 2.1, Sec.2.2 and Sec. 2.3, respectively. The following sentences have been added. In this experiment, PET film was purchased Vigon Technology of China and its’ thicknes was about 188 μm. Ethylene glycol solution of AgNWs was purchased from Vigon Technology of China. The average diameter of the AgNWs is about 25 nm and its length is about from 20-30μm; In this experiment, MoS2 target material was purchased from Deyang ONA new materials Co., Ltd. The Purity of the MoS2 target is 99.99%;
(2) PET needs to be irradiated for 15min under ultraviolet light. The UV irradiation equipment is produced by Shenzhen Huiwo Technology Co., Ltd., and the model is BZS250GF-TC.
(3)In the revised manuscript, we add Sec. 4 to Specifically describe the equipment. The added contents were
“4. Equipment description in the paper
The atomic force microscope used in this paper is produced by Bruker company in Germany, and the model is Dimensin Edge. The film transmittance meter is produced by Shanghai Guangzhao company, and the model is GZ502A. The optical microscope is produced by Olympus, and the model is BX51M. The UV irradiation equipment is produced by Shenzhen Huiwo Technology Co., Ltd., and the model is BZS250GF-TC.”
(4) Ito is now a very mature anode material for OLED. In terms of luminous performance, the ITO-based OLED is better than AgNWs-based OLED, as expressed in the manuscript. Due to the important application prospect of AgNWs, we should constantly explore the preparation process. Different anodes are related to be different preparation structures of OLED. If ITO is used as anode material, the anode modification layer is not required. However, if AgNWs is used as anode material, the anode modification layer is necessarily required. So we did not specify if the difference is only in the anode (ITO and AgNWs).
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
Dear authors,
Unfortunately, I do not see that all questions were adressed. One of the main issue - is novelty of the study. One sentence is still to little to highlight difference of your work from a plenty other articles.
Please provide detailed explanation in article about using MoS2.
Please, check presense in correct place of panel labelling on figures (in some figures labels are missed, in some they on bottom, in some in right corner; style should be uniform). There are still missprints, please, proofread your text.
Author Response
Thank you for your valuable suggestions and comments. According to your comments and suggestions, we have revised the manuscript again. The modification and reply of the manuscript are as follows.
(1) on novelty of the study
The transparent and conductive properties of transparent conductive films are always contradictory. We hope to reduce the resistance of the film by reducing the nodes as much as possible, so as to increase its conductivity without affecting its light transmittance. Therefore, we think of the cross transparent conductive film. Compared with the disordered arrangement of nanowires, ordered nanowires will have better photoelectric properties. In this paper, we use shear force to obtain uniaxial silver nanowire transparent films, and obtain cross pattern transparent conductive films by secondary stirring. Compared with other methods, our method can obtain a large area of film, and the operation is relatively simple. We sputter MoS2 film on the surface of the film to prevent the oxidation of silver nanowires in air and reduce the surface roughness. The introduction of PEDOT:PSS further increases the work function of the device, as shown in Fig. 8 (b), so that the finally prepared device can emit light at a lower voltage, and the lowest starting voltage is as low as 5 V.
In the revised manuscript, the following sentence has been added：“In this paper, we innovatively use a two-step stirring method to obtain cross silver nanowire transparent conductive films. It effectively reduces the node density on the film and increases the conductivity of the film without affecting the light transmittance of the film. By sputtering a layer of MoS2 on the surface of the film, we can prevent the oxidation of silver nanowires in air and ensure the stability of the device. At the same time, MoS2 can increase the work function of the film and play a positive role in reducing the starting voltage of the device. The films prepared by magnetron sputtering have good stability and uniformity, and the sputtering process will not affect the substrate at low temperature.”
(2) We have added detailed explanation in article about using MoS2.
In Page 7 of the revised manuscript, the following sentence has been added：“In order to reduce the surface roughness of thin films, researchers have put forward several solutions. First, the most direct method is to reduce the diameter of agnws and particles as much as possible; Second, the surface roughness of the film is reduced by pressure method. The principle is to use external force to press nanowires into the surface of plastic flexible substrate, so as to reduce its surface roughness and increase the adhesion between agnws and substrate; Third, transparent conductive materials are used to fill the gap between nanowires. Although this method can reduce the surface roughness, due to the limited transparency of conductive materials, it will not only reduce the roughness, but also reduce the light transmittance of the film; Fourth, transparent and non-conductive polymers are used for filling.’’
In Page 7 of the revised manuscript, the following sentence has been added “Unlike graphene, MoS2 is a semiconductor material with special energy band structure. MoS2 crystal is an indirect band gap semiconductor material with a band gap of about 1.2 eV. The stripped single-layer MoS2 nano sheet is a direct band gap semiconductor material with a band gap of 1.8 eV or even 1.9 eV. When MoS2 is stripped from bulk materials into MoS2 nanosheets, it will show excellent photoelectric properties and have great potential in electroluminescence and other fields.”
(3) We have checked the panel labelling on figures. Labels have been added to unlabeled drawings. All drawings are centered. Some missprints have been revised.
Reviewer 3 Report
The authors provide complete answers to all referee questions . Based on that fact, I recommend accepting the revised draft in unchanged form.
Author Response
Thank you for your valuable suggestions and comments.
Reviewer 4 Report
I went through the revision of the manuscript. I believe the authors addressed all of my comments/questions and I believe the paper can now be accepted for publication in Coatings.
Author Response
Thank you for your valuable suggestions and comments.
