Electrospinning Optimization for Fabrication of Flexible Transparent Electrodes

Flexible, transparent electrodes (FTEs) can be used in many applications, such as wearable electronics, flexible touch screens, and semitransparent solar cells. Researchers have successfully created stretchable, bendable, and uniformly high-performing transparent electrodes using metal nanotroughs, metal nanowires with protective coatings, and hybrid structures of graphene-gold nanotrough networks. Although each of these methods utilizes electrospinning to create the nanonetwork, the procedures and desired characteristics of the electrospun fibers vary greatly from method to method. The most widely established high-performing FTEs have been created by utilizing nanotrough networks. Some researchers found the best conductivity and transmissivity utilizing copper to make up these nanotroughs, but due to its instability when exposed to air, high temperatures, and humidity, others established more stable electrodes through use of more expensive metals such as gold or silver. It is hypothesized that lower-cost, stable FTEs could be created utilizing copper nanotroughs sandwiched between protective atomic layers of metal oxides. Therefore, this research identifies, varies, and optimizes electrospinning parameters for the fabrication of such electrodes