Highly flexible and transparent InSnO/Ag nanowire/InSnO hybrid electrodes

We have investigated the electrical, optical, structural, and mechanical properties of InSnO (ITO)/Ag nano wire (NW)/ITO hybrid films on a colorless polyimide substrate as a function of the number of repeated brush-painting cycles for the Ag NWs. By direct brush-painting of the Ag NWs, we effectively embedded the Ag NWs between sputtered ITO films. Due to the high conductivity of a brush painted Ag NWs, the optimized ITO/Ag NW/ITO hybrid films had a low sheet resistance of 12.28 Ω/square and an optical transmittance of 82.71%. Furthermore, the high strain failure of Ag NWs led to superior flexibility of the ITO/Ag NW/ITO hybrid films compared to single ITO films. The smaller inner and outer bending radius of the ITO/Ag NW/ITO hybrid film compared to single ITO film indicates that embedment of Ag NWs between thin ITO films is a promising solution for improving the flexibility of brittle ITO films.