Significantly Improved Stability of PDMS- Packaged Silver Nanowire Film under Multiple Environments

Silver Nanowire (AgNW) transparent conductive film has been widely studied in recent years as alternative to ITO. In spite of the excellent light transmittance, conductivity and flexibility, the weak stability of AgNW film is a severe barrier to its application in electronic devices. However, transparent electrode is packaged when applied in electronic devices. In this work, the effects of package on the stability of AgNW film under multiple environments are tested. We demonstrate that the stability of AgNW film is significantly improved after packaged by PDMS in ambient atmosphere. After annealing at 180 °C for 50 h, the sheet resistance of PDMS-packaged AgNW film increased by 47%, compared to 1100% of pure AgNW film. In harsh environment of high humidity and high temperature, PDMS-packaged AgNW film also performs outstanding stability. When exposed to ultraviolet (UV) irradiation, the pure AgNW film lost conductivity in 40 min, accompanied with the sharp decrease of light transmittance. By contrast, the sheet resistance of PDMS-packaged AgNW film only changed about 20% with nearly unchanged light transmittance. Even at high current density of 250 mA cm^-2, the PDMS-packaged AgNW film exhibited a lifetime 5.8 times that of pure AgNW film. The protective effect of package will promote the application of AgNW film in optoelectronic devices.