Mechanically Stable and Damage Resistant Freestanding Ultrathin Silver Nanowire Films with Closely Packed Crossed-Lamellar Structure.

Abstract

One-dimensional (1D) functional nanowires are widely used as nanoscale building blocks for assembling advanced nanodevices due to their unique functionalities. However, previous research has mainly focused on nanowire functionality, while neglecting the structural stability and damage resistance of nanowire assemblies, which are critical for the long-term operation of nanodevices. Biomaterials achieve excellent mechanical stability and damage resistance through sophisticated structural design. Here, we successfully prepared a mechanically stabilized monolamella silver nanowire (Ag NW) film, based on a facile bubble-mediated assembly and nondestructive transfer strategy with the assistance of a porous mixed cellulose ester substrate, inspired by the hierarchical structure of biomaterial. Owing to the closely packed arrangement of Ag NWs combined with their weak interfaces, the monolamellar Ag NW film can be transferred to arbitrary substrates without damage. Furthermore, freestanding multilamellar Ag NW films with impressive damage resistance can be obtained from the monolamellar Ag NW film, through the introduction of bioinspired closely packed crossed-lamellar (CPCL) structure. This CPCL structure maximizes intra- and interlamellar interactions among Ag NWs ensuring efficient stress transfer and uniform electron transport, resulting in excellent mechanical durability and stable electrical properties of the multilamellar Ag NW films.