A silk fibroin and ultra-long silver nanowires based transparent conductive composite film for nanosensor devices

Abstract

In addition to being applied to flexible touch screens, organic flexible photoelectric films have broad application prospects. In this paper, a transparent and conductive composite film was prepared by embedding a conductive network composed of ultra-long silver nanowires (AgNWs) with silk fibroin as the substrate material. In order to make the composite film flexible, a method of adding an appropriate amount of calcium ions (Ca2+) to the silk fibroin solution is employed. The ultra-long AgNWs can reduce the number of junctions between the nanowires on the conductive grid, which can reduce the resistance of the conductive layer. At the same time, the conductivity, light transmittance, and temperature sensitivity of the composite films were characterized. With the natural good biocompatibility of silk fibroin, the application of this kind of film in biomedical science as an electronic skin that can detect human health indicators could be expanded.