Stability of Silver-Nanowire-Based Flexible Transparent Electrodes under Mechanical Stress

Flexible transparent electrodes are integral to the advancement of flexible optoelectronic devices such as flexible displays and solar cells. However, indium tin oxide (ITO), a traditional material used in transparent electrodes, exhibits a significant increase in resistance under mechanical stress, which limits the long-term stability of flexible devices. Here, we prepare various types of silver nanowire (AgNW)-based transparent electrodes and investigate their stability in terms of electrical resistance and optical transmittance under compressive and tensile stresses. Under compressive stress, ITO on a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate exhibits a significantly high electrical resistance of >3000 Ω after 1000 stress cycles, while the AgNW-coated electrode on a PET film exhibits a relatively smaller resistance of