Silver nanowires show suitability for flexible electronics

Indium tin oxide is currently one of the most widely used materials for touchscreens, plasma displays, and flexible electronics due to its high electrical conductivity and optical transparency but its escalating price has forced the electronics industry to seek alternatives.

One potential and more cost-effective alternative is a film made with silver nanowires embedded in flexible polymers. Like indium tin oxide, this material is transparent and conductive but development has stalled because scientists lack a fundamental understanding of its mechanical properties.

Now Horacio Espinosa, the James N. and Nancy J. Farley Professor in Manufacturing and Entrepreneurship at Northwestern University’s McCormick School of Engineering, has led research that expands the understanding of silver nanowires’ behaviour in electronics.

Espinosa and his team investigated the material’s cyclic loading, which shows how the material reacts to fluctuating loads of stress.

‘Cyclic loading is an important material behaviour that must be investigated for realising the potential applications of using silver nanowires in electronics,’ Espinosa said in a statement. ‘Knowledge of such behaviour allows designers to understand how these conductive films fail and how to improve their durability.’