Effects of oxygen containing groups on barrier layer on the stability of silver nanowire transparent electrodes

Silver nanowire (AgNW) has showed strong potential as a great alternative to indium tin oxide (ITO) film in the fabrication of transparent conductive electrode (TCE) and it especially satisfies the requirements of flexible and printable electronics. To relieve the corrosion of bare AgNWs and improve the long-term stability of AgNW-based electrodes, using barrier layer to encapsulate and overcoat of the surface of AgNWs has been proposed as one powerful solution. Reduced graphene oxide (rGO) film is used as a barrier layer extensively in the fabrication of AgNW-based electrodes. Considering the difficulty of entirely removing the oxygen containing groups (OCGs) on GO film to form rGO film, there is a lack of information about the effect of OCGs on barrier layer on the stability of AgNW-based network. Therefore, we decided to study the corrosion of AgNW network overcoated with GO film, on which contained different amounts of OCGs. Two kinds of AgNW-based electrodes, graphene oxide (GO) /AgNW/polyethylene terephthalate (PET) TCEs and rGO/AgNW/PET TCEs, were fabricated by a rapid and facile flame treatment and exposed to ambient conditions. The structural and performance changes were monitored with exposed time. Our results demonstrated that AgNWs are susceptible to the barrier layers.