Highly stable and stretchable graphene–polymer processed silver nanowires hybrid electrodes for flexible displays

Abstract

A new type of highly stable, transparent and flexible hybrid electrode has been developed by integrating the encapsulation of a silver nanowires (AgNWs) network by polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) with a single-layer graphene on a flexible substrate. Compared with commercial indium tin oxide (ITO) film and pristine AgNWs–graphene hybrid film, this hybrid electrode formulation was found to exhibit excellent optical and electrical properties (84.0% at 550 nm R_S = 14.1 Ω □⁻¹). Moreover, the PVA encapsulated-AgNWs–graphene hybrid electrode on a flexible substrate shows superior mechanical flexibility, reliability and long-term stability due to the multi-functional effects of PVA as the encapsulation layer. Finally, we employ this hybrid electrode to construct a flexible cholesteric liquid crystals (Ch-LCs) device, where the PVA layer in hybrid formation could be used as the orientation layer. This Ch-LCs device exhibits an impressive electrical–optical performance, demonstrating its potential as a transparent and stretchable electrode platform for flexible optoelectronics.