Last article by CIQUS´s researcher Francisco Rivadulla (Starting Grant 2010), which has been published in the prestigious Nano Letters journal describes an easy method to prepare homogenous single layers of densely aligned ultrathin gold nanowires. This process allows the fabrication of electrodes with high conductivity, transparency and flexibility. The research has been developed in collaboration with Miguel Correa-Duarte (University of Vigo).
The combination of low electrical resistance and high optical transparency in a single material is very uncommon. For that reason, developing these systems is not only a scientific challenge but also a technological need, in order to replace ITO (Indium Tin Oxide) in flexible electronic components and other highly demanding applications as liquid crystal displays, touch panels (tablets, smartphones…) or LEDs.
Although ITO is one of the most widely used materials for most of the transparent and conductive films fabricated nowadays, its scarcity, complex processing requirements and lack of flexibility have somehow limited its widespread application.
The deposited films which are explained in this work, show an electrical/optical performance competitive with ITO and graphene-based electrodes. Moreover, the Au-films show a good stability under ambient conditions, and the large aspect ratio of the ultrathin nanowires makes them perfect for deposition in flexible substrates, which is required for flexible electronic devices.
Fran Rivadulla belongs to CIQUS and he is a member of the Magnetism and Nanotechnology Research Group (NANOMAG) at University of Santiago de Compostela
Figure 1 (left): Image of a glass substrate coated with gold nanowires and detail (TEM image) of the gold nanowires. The glass substrate keeps its transparency but acquires a high electrical conductivity due to the gold wires.
Figure 2 (right) TEM image of gold nanowires at different scales and detail of gold nanowires in solution.