Flexible, transparent and tough silver nanowire/nanocellulose electrodes for flexible touch screen panels

Flexible touch screen panel (f-TSP) has been emerging recently and metallic nanowire transparent conductive electrodes (TCEs) are its key components. However, most metallic nanowire (MNW) TCEs suffer from weak bonding strength between metal nanowire electrode layers and polymer substrates, which causes delamination of TCEs and produces serious declines in durability of f-TSPs. Here, we introduce Ag-S bonding and develop tough and strong electrode-substrate bonded MNW TCEs, which can enhance durability of f-TSPs significantly. We used silver nanowires (AgNWs) as metal conductive electrode and thiol-modified nanofibrillated cellulose (NFC-HS) nanopaper as substrates. Because of the existence of Ag from AgNWs and S from NFC-HS, strong Ag-S bonding was generated and tough TCEs were obtained. The TCEs exhibit excellent electrical stability, outstanding optical and electrical properties. The f-TSP devices integrated with the TCEs illustrate striking durability. This technique may provide a promising strategy to produce flexible and tough TCEs for next-generation high-durability f-TSPs.