Protective integrated transparent conductive film with high mechanical stability and uniform electric-field distribution.

A stable and uniform electric field is to be generated even though a large mechanical deformation is the primary criterion for a transparent conductive film. This study proposes a protective integrated transparent conductive film (PITCF) including indium tin oxide (ITO), a silver nanowire (Ag NW) network, and a protective polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) layer. A firmly bonding process of ITO/Ag NW/PDMS is established to avoid the failure of Ag NW to be oxidized by interlayer residual air or wrapped by liquid PDMS. Besides the good optical transparency, haze, and electrical conductivity as the only ITO film, the developed PITCF exhibits excellent bending resistance and mechanical stability. The ITO rupture fragments after bending deformation are firmly interconnected by the constrained Ag NWs. Even though the PITCF is bended more than 1000 cycles at a 6.5 mm bending distance, the changes in electrical resistance of PITCF are below 9.7%. Finally, an electroluminescent device with high bending resistance and uniform and high luminance is developed based on the designed PITCF.