A facile and economical process for high-performance and flexible transparent conductive film based on reduced graphene oxides and silver nanowires

The one-dimensional (1D) silver nanowires (AgNWs) with high transmittance, high electronic conductivity and two-dimensional (2D) reduced graphene oxide (rGO) both emerge as leading candidates for the development of next-generation transparent conductive films (TCFs). However, the relatively high sheet resistance of rGO and the poor corrosion resistance of AgNWs hinder them to fabricating TCFs independently in practical applications. Here, we used rGO bridging discrete AgNWs, improving conductivity and corrosion resistance of AgNW networks. In this work, firstly, graphene oxide (GO)/AgNW aqueous dispersions were prepared, in which GO played multiple roles as a dispersant to promote the stability of GO/AgNW aqueous dispersions as well. And then the rGO/AgNW hybrid films were successfully fabricated by a facile vacuum filtration followed by dry transfer to polyethylene (PE) substrates and subsequent reduction by hydroiodic acid (HI) vapor at 60 °C. The rGO/AgNW/PE TCF exhibited excellent optical and electrical properties (91.488% at 550 nm and 83.86 Ω/sq). The deposit density of rGO and AgNWs was merely 15.92 mg/m2 and 79.58 mg/m2, respectively.