Large-Scale Synthesis of Uniform Silver Nanowires by High-Gravity Technology for Flexible Transparent Conductive Electrodes

Silver nanowire (AgNW) is a promising substitute for indium tin oxide in flexible optoelectronic devices because of its excellent flexibility and electrical properties. However, the mass production of high-aspect-ratio AgNWs with uniform morphology and high yield still remains a great challenge. Herein, a novel approach of high-gravity reactive precipitation in a rotating packed bed reactor combined with the polyol reduction process was proposed for the synthesis of AgNWs. The products have a uniform size and large aspect ratio with the average length of 55 mu m and the average diameter of 20 nm, respectively. Notably, the yield of AgNWs reaches 95%, and there is no scale-up effect when the throughput is enhanced by 10 times. The flexible transparent conductive electrode fabricated with AgNWs exhibits outstanding mechanical flexibility and optoelectronic performance with a low sheet resistance of 9.6 Omega.sq(-1) at a high visible transmittance of 90%.