Effect of the Blade-Coating Conditions on the Electrical and Optical Properties of Transparent Ag Nanowire Electrodes.

Optimizing the coating conditions for a doctor blading system is important when seeking to improve the performance of Ag nanowire electrodes. In this study, the effect of the blading height and speed on the optical and electrical properties of Ag nanowire electrodes was investigated. Ag nanowires were first spread on a PET substrate using a doctor blade with differing heights at a fixed blading speed. An increase in the blading height resulted in the degradation of the optical transmittance and stronger haze due to the higher probability of Ag nanowire agglomeration arising from the greater wet thickness. When the blading speed was varied, the optical transmittance and haze were unaffected up until 20 mm/s, followed by minor degradation of the optical properties at blading speeds over 25 mm/s. The higher speeds hindered the spread of the Ag nanowire solution, which also increased the probability of Ag nanowire agglomeration. However, this degradation was less serious compared to that observed with a change in the blading height. Therefore, optimizing the blading height was confirmed to be the priority for the production of high-performance transparent Ag nanowire electrodes. Our study thus provides practical guidance for the fabrication of Ag nanowire electrodes using doctor blading systems.