Zhu Zhaoxi, Wang Xiaolu, Li Dan, Yu Haiyang, Li Xuefei, Guo Fu
Faculty of Materials and Manufacturing, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing 100124, China.
Key Laboratory of Advanced Functional Materials, Ministry of Education, Beijing 100124, China.
Nanomaterials (Basel). 2023 Oct 29;13(21):2865. doi: 10.3390/nano13212865.
To enhance the conductivity of a silver nanowire (Ag NW) network, a facile solvent welding method was developed. Soaking a Ag NW network in ethylene glycol (EG) or alcohol for less than 15 min decreased the resistance about 70%. Further combined solvent processing via a plasmonic welding approach decreased the resistance about 85%. This was achieved by simply exposing the EG-soaked Ag NW network to a low-power blue light (60 mW/cm). Research results suggest that poly(vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP) dissolution by solvent brings nanowires into closer contact, and this reduced gap distance between nanowires enhances the plasmonic welding effect, hence further decreasing resistance. Aside from this dual combination of methods, a triple combination with Joule heating welding induced by applying a current to the Ag NW network decreased the resistance about 96%. Although conductivity was significantly enhanced, our results showed that the melting at Ag NW junctions was relatively negligible, which indicates that the enhancement in conductivity could be attributed to the removal of PVP layers. Moreover, the approaches were quite gentle so any potential damage to Ag NWs or polymer substrates by overheating (e.g., excessive Joule heating) was avoided entirely, making the approaches suitable for application in devices using heat-sensitive materials.
为提高银纳米线（Ag NW）网络的导电性，开发了一种简便的溶剂焊接方法。将Ag NW网络浸泡在乙二醇（EG）或酒精中不到15分钟，电阻降低约70%。通过等离子体焊接方法进一步进行联合溶剂处理，电阻降低约85%。这只需将浸泡过EG的Ag NW网络暴露在低功率蓝光（60 mW/cm）下即可实现。研究结果表明，溶剂使聚乙烯吡咯烷酮（PVP）溶解，使纳米线接触更紧密，纳米线之间减小的间隙距离增强了等离子体焊接效果，从而进一步降低电阻。除了这两种方法的双重组合外，对Ag NW网络施加电流诱导焦耳热焊接的三重组合使电阻降低约96%。尽管导电性显著提高，但我们的结果表明，Ag NW结处的熔化相对可忽略不计，这表明导电性的提高可归因于PVP层的去除。此外，这些方法相当温和，完全避免了过热（如过度焦耳热）对Ag NW或聚合物基板造成的任何潜在损害，使这些方法适用于使用热敏材料的器件。
