Photonic welding of ultra-long copper nanowire network for flexible transparent electrodes using white flash light sintering

Abstract

Copper nanowire (Cu NW)-based flexible transparent electronics represent an enormous breakthrough for the development of efficient, scalable and facile processing techniques. From the standpoint of commercialization, a cost-effective and eco-friendly procedure for welding nanowires is imperative to fabricate Cu NW network-based transparent electrodes. In this study, a photonic welding method using a white flash light (WFL) technique was developed in-house for welding Cu NWs in order to produce highly conductive and transparent electrodes under ambient conditions. Flexible Cu NW films with sheet resistances of 128 Ω □⁻¹ and transmittances of >95% at 560 nm on PET substrates were obtained by using light intensity of 1.0 J cm⁻² with single pulse and an irradiation time of 5 ms. The WFL technique facilitates localized surface heating and subsequent welding at the junction of the Cu NWs with excellent stability, low sheet resistance and no damage to the polymer substrates. It is expected that the WFL technique will be widely applied to flexible printed and optoelectronic devices such as touch panel displays and solar cells.