Patterning and Immobilization of Silver Nanowires for Flexible Electronics by Using Microwave

In most electronic devices such as flexible transparent conductive electrodes, silver nanowires (AgNWs) need to be patterned with time-consuming processing. Herein we propose a versatile technique to pattern silver nanowires with enhanced adhesion to polyimide substrate. By grafting cysteamine on the substrate via microwave irradiation and then by spin-coating, AgNWs can be grafted to the polymeric substrate. After scotch tape test on the robustness of AgNWs on PI, the results exhibited excellent stability. Hence this method has the potential to be a simple, fast, and straightforward technique to graft cysteamine and AgNWs on the polymeric surfaces.