Mixtures of Silver Nanowires and Nanocellulose Nanowires for Green Chemistry Quasi-1D Transparent Electrodes

Silver nanowires (AgNW) mixed with nanocellulose nanowires (NCNW) are deposited in photolithgraphed gratings of varying depth. The nanocellulose onto which the AgNWs are mixed is of varying length. It is found that the recirculation flow is larger when the length of the NCNW is longer, and the grating used is deeper. The electrical properties of the resulting quasi-1D electrode is tested both before it is transferred into the nanocellulose paper and after, and it is observed that it retains the same order of magnitude for the conductivities as the 0.3 and 0.2%wt concentrations for the bare AgNW. This is attributed to the use of the NCNW, at high concentrations. Using the NCNW in the mixtures allows for the AgNW to be transferred from the gratings to any substrate. Using the NC paper allows to obtain a nearly transparent or translucent nearly 1D electrode, where 1D refers to the fact the length of the obtained electrode far exceeds its width.