Laser-induced electrical property patterning of Ag nanowire transparent electrode

•The electrical property of Ag nanowire transparent electrode is patterned by a laser.•Our approach is to block the current flow in selected areas by cutting nanowires.•The feasibility of this property patterning is demonstrated with LEDs attached to the fabricated pattern.

We here introduce a laser-driven method to pattern Ag nanowire (AgNW) transparent electrode without material removal. Our approach is to block the current flow in selected areas by cutting nanowires, which is fundamentally based on the Rayleigh instability. AgNW film spin-coated onto a glass substrate was selectively irradiated using a nanosecond-pulsed ultraviolet laser beam. This made it possible to fabricate a patterned structure consisting of spatially separated conducting and insulating regions. The feasibility of this electrical property patterning was demonstrated with white light emitting diodes attached to the fabricated pattern.