Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4, Canada.
School of Chemistry, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland.
Nanoscale. 2023 Jun 23;15(24):10394-10411. doi: 10.1039/d3nr01130e.
Rapid reaction time, high attainable temperatures, minimum operating voltage, excellent optical transmittance, and tunable sheet resistance are all desirable properties of transparent conductors, which are important thin-film components in numerous electronic devices. A seamless nanowire network (NWN) refers to a structure composed of nanowires that lack interwire contact junctions, resulting in a continuous and uninterrupted network arrangement. This seamless nature leads to unique properties, including high conductivity and surface area-to-volume ratios, which make it a promising candidate for a vast application range in nanotechnology. Here, we have conducted an in-depth computational investigation to study the thermo-electro-optical properties of seamless nanowire networks and understand their geometrical features using in-house computational implementations and a coupled electrothermal model built in COMSOL Multiphysics software. Sheet resistance calculations were performed using Ohm's law combined with Kirchhoff circuit laws for a random resistor network and compared with those obtained employing COMSOL. In this work, aluminium, gold, copper, and silver nanowires are the materials of choice for testing the transparent conduction performance of our systems. We have studied a wide range of tuning parameters, including the network area fraction, the width-to-depth aspect ratio, and the length of the nanowire segments. We obtained corresponding figures of merit (optical transmittance sheet resistance) and temperature distributions to provide a complete characterization of the performance of real-world transparent conductors idealized with seamless NWNs. Our analysis accounted for the thermo-electro-optical responses of the NWNs and the inspection of various controlling parameters depending on system design considerations to shed light on how the electrical transport, optical qualities, and thermal management of these systems can be optimized.
快速的反应时间、可达到的高温、最小工作电压、出色的光透过率以及可调的面电阻都是透明导体的理想特性，透明导体是许多电子设备中重要的薄膜元件。无缝纳米线网络（NWN）是指由纳米线组成的结构，这些纳米线之间没有接触结，从而形成连续且不间断的网络排列。这种无缝特性带来了独特的性质，包括高导电性和表面积与体积比，这使其成为纳米技术中广泛应用的有前途的候选者。在这里，我们进行了深入的计算研究，使用内部计算实现和在 COMSOL Multiphysics 软件中构建的耦合电热模型来研究无缝纳米线网络的热电光性质，并了解其几何特征。使用欧姆定律和基尔霍夫电路定律对随机电阻网络进行了面电阻计算，并与 COMSOL 的计算结果进行了比较。在这项工作中，铝、金、铜和银纳米线被选为测试我们系统透明传导性能的材料。我们研究了广泛的调谐参数，包括网络面积分数、宽深比以及纳米线段的长度。我们获得了相应的性能指标（光透过率和面电阻）和温度分布，以全面描述用无缝 NWN 理想化的实际透明导体的性能。我们的分析考虑了 NWN 的热电光响应以及根据系统设计考虑因素检查各种控制参数，以阐明如何优化这些系统的电传输、光学质量和热管理。
