Strongly Adhesive Silver Nanowire Ink Makes Delamination-Free Transparent Conductive Films Possible

Transparent conductive film (TCF) fabricated with silver nanowires (AgNWs) is one of the most promising candidates to replace the state-of-the-art indium tin oxide films as electrodes in next generation flexible displays. The adhesion of AgNWs on a substrate is one of the key limiting factors that influence the yield and quality of downstream products. Inserting an adhesive interlayer between the substrate and AgNWs complicates the fabrication process and may worsen the uniformity of the films. Herein, we report a self-adhesive coating ink that can realize tight adhesion of AgNWs on the substrate. The ink consists of AgNWs and sodium alginate. TCFs coated with the ink exhibit a strong adhesion on the substrate, and no delamination is observed after peeling with 3 M tape, long-time immersion in a solvent, ultrasonicating in a water bath, or multiple bending to a small radius. The optoelectronic performance of TCFs after the aforementioned treatments remains constant and is superior to those reported in the literature. The self-adhesive coating ink makes delamination-free AgNW TCFs possible.