Space Industry and Business News  
INTERNET SPACE
Transparent, conductive films promising for developing flexible screens
by Staff Writers
Washington DC (SPX) Jun 07, 2018

The researchers used an approach called colloidal lithography to create a silver nanopattern that conducts electricity while letting light through the holes. The new transparent electrode films could be useful for solar cells as well as flexible displays and touch screens.

Researchers have demonstrated large-scale fabrication of a new type of transparent conductive electrode film based on nanopatterned silver. Smartphone touch screens and flat panel televisions use transparent electrodes to detect touch and to quickly switch the color of each pixel.

Because silver is less brittle and more chemically resistant than materials currently used to make these electrodes, the new films could offer a high-performance and long-lasting option for use with flexible screens and electronics. The silver-based films could also enable flexible solar cells for installation on windows, roofs and even personal devices.

In the journal Optical Materials Express, the researchers report fabrication of a transparent conducting thin-film on glass discs 10 centimeters in diameter. Based on theoretical estimations that matched closely with experimental measurements, they calculate that the thin-film electrodes could perform significantly better than those used for existing flexible displays and touch screens.

"The approach we used for fabrication is highly reproducible and creates a chemically stable configuration with a tunable tradeoff between transparency and conductive properties," said the paper's first author, Jes Linnet from the University of Southern Denmark. "This means that if a device needs higher transparency but less conductivity, the film can be made to accommodate by changing the thickness of the film."

Finding a flexible alternative
Most of today's transparent electrodes are made of indium tin oxide (ITO), which can exhibit up to 92 percent transparency - comparable to glass. Although highly transparent, ITO thin films must be processed carefully to achieve reproducible performance and are too brittle to use with flexible electronics or displays. Researchers are seeking alternatives to ITO because of these drawbacks.

The anti-corrosive nature of noble metals such as gold, silver and platinum makes them promising ITO alternatives for creating long-lasting, chemically resistant electrodes that could be used with flexible substrates.

However, until now, noble metal transparent conductive films have suffered from high surface roughness, which can degrade performance because the interface between the film and other layers isn't flat. Transparent conductive films can also be made using carbon nanotubes, but these films don't currently exhibit high enough conductance for all applications and tend to also suffer from surface roughness due to the nanotubes stacking on top of each other.

In the new study, the researchers used an approach called colloidal lithography to create transparent conductive silver thin films. They first created a masking layer, or template, by coating a 10-centimeter wafer with a single layer of evenly sized, close-packed plastic nanoparticles.

The researchers placed these coated wafers into a plasma oven to shrink the size of all the particles evenly. When they deposited a thin film of silver onto the masking layer, the silver entered the spaces between the particles. They then dissolved the particles, leaving a precise pattern of honeycomb-like holes that allow light to pass through, producing an electrically conductive and optically transparent film.

Balancing transparency and conductivity
The researchers demonstrated that their large-scale fabrication method can be used to create silver transparent electrodes with as much as 80 percent transmittance while keeping electrical sheet resistance below 10 ohms per square - about a tenth of what has been reported for carbon-nanotube-based films with the equivalent transparency. The lower the electrical resistance, the better the electrodes are at conducting an electrical charge.

"The most novel aspect of our work is that we accounted for both the transmission properties and the conductance properties of this thin film using theoretical analysis that correlated well with measured results," said Linnet. "Fabrication problems typically make it hard to get the best theoretical performance from a new material. We decided to report what we encountered experimentally and postulate remedies so that this information could be used in the future to avoid or minimize problems that may affect performance."

The researchers say that their findings show that colloidal lithography can be used to fabricate transparent conductive thin films that are chemically stable and could be useful for a variety of applications.

J. Linnet, A. R. Walther, C. Wolff, O. Albreksten, N. A. Mortensen, J. Kjelstrup-Hansen. "Transparent and conductive electrodes by large-scale nano-structuring of noble metal thin-films," Opt. Mater. Express Volume 8 Issue 7, pp. 1733-1746 (2018). DOI


Related Links
The Optical Society
Satellite-based Internet technologies


Thanks for being here;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5 Billed Monthly


paypal only


INTERNET SPACE
Apple touts privacy features of new operating systems
San Jose, United States (AFP) June 4, 2018
Apple on Monday unveiled new operating systems for its iPhones and computers with features designed to thwart the use of secret trackers to monitor people's online activities. The announcement by Apple comes amid a growing focus on protecting privacy following a Facebook data scandal and new rules being enforced by the European Union for online services. Apple, kicking off its annual developers conference, appeared to be setting itself apart from Facebook, which has drawn the ire of privacy acti ... read more

Comment using your Disqus, Facebook, Google or Twitter login.



Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle

INTERNET SPACE
JUICE comes in from extreme temperature test

Cooling by laser beam

Large-scale and sustainable 3D printing with the most ubiquitous natural material

Engineers convert commonly discarded material into high-performance adhesive

INTERNET SPACE
On-the-move communications system set to field this fall

Lockheed Martin's 5th AEHF comsat completes launch environment test

IAP Worldwide Services tapped for satellite systems

Hughes to prototype Multi-Modem Adaptor for Wideband SATCOM use

INTERNET SPACE
INTERNET SPACE
Woman drowns in Prague drains playing GPS treasure hunt

GMV competing to develop the Galileo Ground Control Segment in brand new premises

Research shows how 'navigational hazards' in metro maps confuse travelers

UK set to demand EU repayment in Brexit satellite row

INTERNET SPACE
US fighter jet crashes off Japan coast

Northrop wins more than $81.2M for Hawkeye services

Britain's first four F-35Bs arrive ahead of schedule

US grounds B-1 bombers over safety concerns

INTERNET SPACE
Building nanomaterials for next-generation computing

Novel insulators with conducting edges

Toshiba completes $21 bn sale of chip unit

Time crystals may hold secret to coherence in quantum computing

INTERNET SPACE
Wind satellite shows off

20 Years of Earth Data Now at Your Fingertips

NASA Soil Moisture Data Advances Global Crop Forecasts

New algorithm fuses quality and quantity in satellite imagery

INTERNET SPACE
Mediterranean could become a 'sea of plastic': WWF

Macron's environmental record under fire as critics tally 'retreats'

Plastic wasteland: Asia's ocean pollution crisis

Cleaning up the 'sacred lake': locals tackle Titicaca pollution









The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.