Smoothing silver nanowires for optoelectronic applications
Author(s)
Swartwout, Richard Michael Steuben
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Other Contributors
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
Advisor
Vladimir Bulović.
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Show full item recordAbstract
Silver nanowire meshes have shown potential for becoming a more robust, flexible alternative to traditional ceramic and brittle metal oxides. However, the current methods employed at making these films are not scalable and the high aspect ratios limit their final use. Spray coating is a technique that is widely used in many industries and has proven effective in many coating applications but continues to be limited by drying defects when used traditionally. A simple modification; pulsed spraying can decouple rheology and chemistry and allow for deposition of more uniform silver nanowire mesh films. Additional processing methods, such as metal mesh compression and matrix infilling with a CVD deposited plastic, Parylene-C, can yield a composite that solves roughness issues present with bare films. By combining all of these methods, a silver nanowire-parylene composite can be fabricated using fully scalable techniques ready for sheet-to-sheet or roll-to-roll processing. The composite is flexible, optically transparent, surface smooth, atmospherically stable and conductive, proving itself as a potential replacement for traditional transparent electrodes.
Description
Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2018. This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis. Includes bibliographical references (pages 113-118).
Date issued
2018Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer SciencePublisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Keywords
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.