Conductive Thin Films Composed of Silver Nanowires and Poly(acrylic acid) Prepared by Layer-by-Layer Assembly

Abstract

Practical use of nanomaterials has drawn significant attention of researchers in the fields of nanoscience and technology. However, the control and processing of nanomaterials are still challenging especially for device applications. In this report, we prepared conducting thin films using silver nanowires (AgNW) and poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) via layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly methods. The AgNW/PAA LbL assembled films exhibited typical adsorption behaviors with a linear increase in the UV-Vis absorbance at the maximum absorbed wavelength with increasing number of bilayers. We utilized X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) to investigate the adsorption mechanism The results revealed that both hydrogen bonding and coordination bonding were engaged in the assembly process. The sheet resistances of AgNW/PAA LbL assembled films were measured within the range of 4.2 +/- 0.6 Omega/sq to 14 2 Omega/sq, indicating their potential use as thin film conductors for the fabrication of opto-electronic devices.