Continuous Draw Spinning of Extra-Long Silver Submicron Fibers with Micrometer Patterning Capability.

Ultrathin metal fibers can serve as highly conducting and flexible current and heat transport channels, which are essential for numerous applications ranging from flexible electronics to energy conversion. Although industrial production of metal fibers with diameters of down to 2 μm is feasible, continuous production of high-quality and low-cost nanoscale metal wires is still challenging. Herein, we report the continuous draw spinning of highly conductive silver submicron fibers with the minimum diameter of ∼200 nm and length of more than kilometers. We obtained individual AgNO3/polymer fibers by continuous drawing from an aqueous solution at a speed of up to 8 m/s. With subsequent heat treatment, freestanding Ag submicron fibers with high mechanical flexibility and electric conductivity have been obtained. Woven mats of aligned Ag submicron fibers were used as transparent electrodes with high flexibility and high performance with sheet resistance of 7 Ω sq-1 at a transparency of 96%. Continuous draw spinning opened new avenues for scalable, flexible, and ultralow-cost fabrication of extra-long conductive ultrathin metal fibers.

[1]  R. Cohn,et al.  Shape Transformation Photolithography: Self-Assembled Arrays of Suspended MEMS Structures from Patterned Polymer Membranes , 2018, ACS omega.

[2]  Lichao Feng,et al.  Dry Spin Graphene Oxide Fibers: Mechanical/Electrical Properties and Microstructure Evolution , 2018, Scientific Reports.

[3]  Karen Forberich,et al.  High-performance semitransparent perovskite solar cells with solution-processed silver nanowires as top electrodes. , 2015, Nanoscale.

[4]  Yi Cui,et al.  Personal thermal management by metallic nanowire-coated textile. , 2015, Nano letters.

[5]  B. Wiley,et al.  Metal Nanowire Networks: The Next Generation of Transparent Conductors , 2014, Advanced materials.

[6]  T. Hyeon,et al.  Fabric‐Based Integrated Energy Devices for Wearable Activity Monitors , 2014, Advanced materials.

[7]  Chao Gao,et al.  Coaxial wet-spun yarn supercapacitors for high-energy density and safe wearable electronics , 2014, Nature Communications.

[8]  Cheng-Wei Lin,et al.  Pencil Drawn Strain Gauges and Chemiresistors on Paper , 2014, Scientific Reports.

[9]  Sung-Hoon Choa,et al.  Highly flexible and stretchable carbon nanotube network electrodes prepared by simple brush painting for cost-effective flexible organic solar cells , 2014 .

[10]  M. Panhuis,et al.  Conducting carbon nanofibre networks: dispersion optimisation, evaporative casting and direct writing , 2013 .

[11]  Yi Cui,et al.  Performance enhancement of metal nanowire transparent conducting electrodes by mesoscale metal wires , 2013, Nature Communications.

[12]  Hao Yu,et al.  Enhanced power output of an electrospun PVDF/MWCNTs-based nanogenerator by tuning its conductivity , 2013, Nanotechnology.

[13]  Alberto Salleo,et al.  Color in the Corners: ITO‐Free White OLEDs with Angular Color Stability , 2013, Advanced materials.

[14]  Narendra Kurra,et al.  Pencil-on-paper: electronic devices. , 2013, Lab on a chip.

[15]  Yi Cui,et al.  A transparent electrode based on a metal nanotrough network. , 2013, Nature nanotechnology.

[16]  Daoben Zhu,et al.  All-brush-painted top-gate organic thin-film transistors , 2013 .

[17]  K. Ellmer.  Past achievements and future challenges in the development of optically transparent electrodes , 2012, Nature Photonics.

[18]  Kinam Kim,et al.  Highly stretchable electric circuits from a composite material of silver nanoparticles and elastomeric fibres. , 2012, Nature nanotechnology.

[19]  Jin-Woo Han,et al.  Carbon Nanotube Based Humidity Sensor on Cellulose Paper , 2012 .

[20]  Sung-hoon Ahn,et al.  A flexible and highly sensitive strain-gauge sensor using reversible interlocking of nanofibres. , 2012, Nature materials.

[21]  Ping Wang,et al.  Wet-spinning assembly of continuous, neat, and macroscopic graphene fibers , 2012, Scientific Reports.

[22]  E. Tsymbal,et al.  Multiferroic materials based on organic transition-metal molecular nanowires. , 2012, Journal of the American Chemical Society.

[23]  Albert Polman,et al.  Transparent conducting silver nanowire networks. , 2012, Nano letters.

[24]  W. Dang,et al.  Topological insulator nanostructures for near-infrared transparent flexible electrodes. , 2012, Nature chemistry.

[25]  Christoph J. Brabec,et al.  Solution‐Processed Metallic Nanowire Electrodes as Indium Tin Oxide Replacement for Thin‐Film Solar Cells , 2011 .

[26]  Chao Gao,et al.  Graphene chiral liquid crystals and macroscopic assembled fibres , 2011, Nature communications.

[27]  D. Bradley,et al.  Efficient Organic Solar Cells with Solution‐Processed Silver Nanowire Electrodes , 2011, Advanced materials.

[28]  J. Lewis,et al.  Pen‐on‐Paper Flexible Electronics , 2011, Advanced materials.

[29]  Liangbing Hu,et al.  Emerging Transparent Electrodes Based on Thin Films of Carbon Nanotubes, Graphene, and Metallic Nanostructures , 2011, Advanced materials.

[30]  Hao Yan,et al.  Programmable nanowire circuits for nanoprocessors , 2011, Nature.

[31]  Qibing Pei,et al.  Highly Flexible Silver Nanowire Electrodes for Shape‐Memory Polymer Light‐Emitting Diodes , 2011, Advanced materials.

[32]  J. Yi,et al.  Micro‐and Nanoscale Metallic Glassy Fibers , 2010 .

[33]  Andrew G. Gillies,et al.  Nanowire active-matrix circuitry for low-voltage macroscale artificial skin. , 2010, Nature materials.

[34]  Kwang S. Kim,et al.  Roll-to-roll production of 30-inch graphene films for transparent electrodes. , 2010, Nature nanotechnology.

[35]  Yi Cui,et al.  Scalable coating and properties of transparent, flexible, silver nanowire electrodes. , 2010, ACS nano.

[36]  Yonggang Huang,et al.  Materials and Mechanics for Stretchable Electronics , 2010, Science.

[37]  Chongwu Zhou,et al.  The race to replace tin-doped indium oxide: which material will win? , 2010, ACS nano.

[38]  M. Ferenets,et al.  Thin Solid Films , 2010 .

[39]  Thomas M. Higgins,et al.  Silver Nanowire Networks as Flexible, Transparent, Conducting Films: Extremely High DC to Optical Conductivity Ratios. , 2009, ACS nano.

[40]  Y. Ohishi,et al.  The Disorder-Free Non-BCS Superconductor Cs3C60 Emerges from an Antiferromagnetic Insulator Parent State , 2009, Science.

[41]  L. Interrante,et al.  Chemistry of Materials Turns Twenty-One , 2009 .

[42]  Tadatsugu Minami,et al.  Present status of transparent conducting oxide thin-film development for Indium-Tin-Oxide (ITO) substitutes , 2008 .

[43]  Yi Cui,et al.  Solution-processed metal nanowire mesh transparent electrodes. , 2008, Nano letters.

[44]  Giyoong Tae,et al.  Efficient Polymer Solar Cells Fabricated by Simple Brush Painting , 2007 .

[45]  W. Pan,et al.  Electrospinning of Fe, Co, and Ni Nanofibers: Synthesis, Assembly, and Magnetic Properties , 2007 .

[46]  T. Desai,et al.  Aligned Arrays of Biodegradable Poly(ε-caprolactone) Nanowires and Nanofibers by Template Synthesis , 2007 .

[47]  H. Zhang,et al.  Regenerated‐Cellulose/Multiwalled‐ Carbon‐Nanotube Composite Fibers with Enhanced Mechanical Properties Prepared with the Ionic Liquid 1‐Allyl‐3‐methylimidazolium Chloride , 2007 .

[48]  M. Sitti,et al.  Drawing suspended polymer micro-/nanofibers using glass micropipettes , 2006 .

[49]  M. Bognitzki,et al.  Preparation of Sub‐micrometer Copper Fibers via Electrospinning , 2006 .

[50]  Robert W. Cohn,et al.  Characterization of micromanipulator-controlled dry spinning of micro- and sub-microscale polymer fibers , 2006 .

[51]  Younan Xia,et al.  Collecting electrospun nanofibers with patterned electrodes. , 2005, Nano letters.

[52]  Younan Xia,et al.  Electrospinning of Nanofibers: Reinventing the Wheel? , 2004 .

[53]  J. Ellis,et al.  Cosmology: Synchrotron radiation and quantum gravity , 2003, Nature.

[54]  Younan Xia,et al.  Polyol Synthesis of Uniform Silver Nanowires: A Plausible Growth Mechanism and the Supporting Evidence , 2003 .

[55]  Younan Xia,et al.  Fabrication of Titania Nanofibers by Electrospinning , 2003 .

[56]  Younan Xia,et al.  One‐Dimensional Nanostructures: Synthesis, Characterization, and Applications , 2003 .

[57]  Kwang S. Kim,et al.  Ultrathin Single-Crystalline Silver Nanowire Arrays Formed in an Ambient Solution Phase , 2001, Science.

[58]  H. Sirringhaus,et al.  High-Resolution Ink-Jet Printing of All-Polymer Transistor Circuits , 2000, Science.

[59]  R. G. Denning,et al.  Fabrication of photonic crystals for the visible spectrum by holographic lithography , 2000, Nature.