Synthesis of Ultrathin Copper Nanowires Using Tris(trimethylsilyl)silane for High-Performance and Low-Haze Transparent Conductors

• DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.5b03422
• Publication Date: 2015-10-23T16:10:22Z
• Authors: Fan Cui; Yi Yu; Letian Dou; Jianwei Sun; Qin Yang; Christian Schildk...; Kerstin Schierle-...; Peidong Yang
• Keywords: Indium tin oxide

Colloidal metal nanowire based transparent conductors are excellent candidates to replace indium-tin-oxide (ITO) owing their outstanding balance between transparency and conductivity, flexibility, solution-processability. Copper stands out as a promising material candidate due its high intrinsic conductivity earth abundance. Here, we report new synthetic approach, using tris(trimethylsilyl)silane mild reducing reagent, for synthesizing high-quality, ultrathin, monodispersed copper nanowires, with an average diameter of 17.5 nm mean length 17 μm. A study the growth mechanism high-resolution transmission electron microscopy reveals that nanowires adopt five-fold twinned structure evolve from decahedral nanoseeds. Fabricated conducting films exhibit conductivity. An additional advantage our is highlighted through reduced optical haze factors (forward light scattering) small diameter.