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Materials for Printable Transparent Electrodes

A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (27 June 2017) | Viewed by 15979

Special Issue Editor

Laboratory of Applied NanoSciences (COMATEC-LANS), Department of Industrial Technologies, HEIG-VD, HES-SO, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland, CH-1401 Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland
Interests: AFM; thin films; transparent electrodes; inkjet printing; nanocomposite materials
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Transparent electrodes play a crucial role in printable large area electronics for photovoltaics and printable optoelectronic sensors and displays. Different materials and approaches are used to obtain high performance printable transparent electrodes, in particular with the aim to replace indium tin oxide, and to provide adapted solutions for sheet-to-sheet or roll-to-roll manufacturing and processing. Transparent conducting polymers as well as metal nanoparticle inks for transparent metal-meshes have recently evolved along the industrial development of printing technologies. In the current Special Issue of Materials, we offer a platform for the topic of materials for printable electrodes with experimental and theoretical studies on the electrical conductivity, optical transparency and nanoscale morphology using printable nanocomposites and nanoparticles, as well as on the related ink formulation, measurement techniques, printing and processing techniques. We hope that this Special Issue will bring novel insights in the expanding fields of applied nano- and material science for printing technologies. 

Prof. Dr. Silvia Schintke
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • nanomaterials and nanocomposites
  • transparent conductors
  • printing and processing technologies
  • nanoscale morphology, electrical, and optical properties
  • modelling and measurement techniques

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

3333 KiB  
Article
Screen-Printed Fabrication of PEDOT:PSS/Silver Nanowire Composite Films for Transparent Heaters
by Xin He, Ruihui He, Qiuming Lan, Weijie Wu, Feng Duan, Jundong Xiao, Mei Zhang, Qingguang Zeng, Jianhao Wu and Junyan Liu
Materials 2017, 10(3), 220; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma10030220 - 23 Feb 2017
Cited by 56 | Viewed by 8948
Abstract
A transparent and flexible film heater was fabricated; based on a hybrid structure of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) and silver nanowires (Ag NWs) using a screen printing; which is a scalable production technology. The resulting film integrates the advantages of the two conductive materials; [...] Read more.
A transparent and flexible film heater was fabricated; based on a hybrid structure of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) and silver nanowires (Ag NWs) using a screen printing; which is a scalable production technology. The resulting film integrates the advantages of the two conductive materials; easy film-forming and strong adhesion to the substrate of the polymer PEDOT:PSS; and high conductivity of the Ag NWs. The fabricated composite films with different NW densities exhibited the transmittance within the range from 82.3% to 74.1% at 550 nm. By applying 40 V potential on the films; a stable temperature from 49 °C to 99 °C was generated within 30 s to 50 s. However; the surface temperature of the pristine PEDOT:PSS film did not increase compared to the room temperature. The composite film with the transmittance of 74.1% could be heated to the temperatures from 41 °C to 99 °C at the driven voltages from 15 V to 40 V; indicating that the film heater exhibited uniform heating and rapid thermal response. Therefore; the PEDOT:PSS/Ag NW composite film is a promising candidate for the application of the transparent and large-scale film heaters. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Materials for Printable Transparent Electrodes)
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4072 KiB  
Article
A Study of Dip-Coatable, High-Capacitance Ion Gel Dielectrics for 3D EWOD Device Fabrication
by Carlos E. Clement, Dongyue Jiang, Si Kuan Thio and Sung-Yong Park
Materials 2017, 10(1), 41; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma10010041 - 05 Jan 2017
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 6642
Abstract
We present a dip-coatable, high-capacitance ion gel dielectric for scalable fabrication of three-dimensional (3D) electrowetting-on-dielectric (EWOD) devices such as an n × n liquid prism array. Due to the formation of a nanometer-thick electric double layer (EDL) capacitor, an ion gel dielectric offers [...] Read more.
We present a dip-coatable, high-capacitance ion gel dielectric for scalable fabrication of three-dimensional (3D) electrowetting-on-dielectric (EWOD) devices such as an n × n liquid prism array. Due to the formation of a nanometer-thick electric double layer (EDL) capacitor, an ion gel dielectric offers two to three orders higher specific capacitance (c ≈ 10 μF/cm2) than that of conventional dielectrics such as SiO2. However, the previous spin-coating method used for gel layer deposition poses several issues for 3D EWOD device fabrication, particularly when assembling multiple modules. Not only does the spin-coating process require multiple repetitions per module, but the ion gel layer also comes in risks of damage or contamination due to handling errors caused during assembly. In addition, it was observed that the chemical formulation previously used for the spin-coating method causes the surface defects on the dip-coated gel layers and thus leads to poor EWOD performance. In this paper, we alternatively propose a dip-coating method with modified gel solutions to obtain defect-free, functional ion gel layers without the issues arising from the spin-coating method for 3D device fabrication. A dip-coating approach offers a single-step coating solution with the benefits of simplicity, scalability, and high throughput for deposition of high-capacitance gel layers on non-planar EWOD devices. An ion gel solution was prepared by combining the [EMIM][TFSI] ionic liquid and the [P(VDF-HFP)] copolymer at various wt % ratios in acetone solvent. Experimental studies were conducted to fully understand the effects of chemical composition ratios in the gel solution and how varying thicknesses of ion gel and Teflon layers affects EWOD performance. The effectiveness and potentiality of dip-coatable gel layers for 3D EWOD devices have been demonstrated through fabricating 5 × 1 arrayed liquid prisms using a single-step dip-coating method. Each prism module has been individually controlled to achieve spatial beam steering without the need for bulky mechanical moving parts. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Materials for Printable Transparent Electrodes)
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