Silver Nanowire Networks: Effects of percolation and thermal annealing on physical properties

The use of transparent conductive materials (TCMs) has rapidly increased in the last two decades as a result of the increasing demand for personal electronic devices and the development of thin film based solar cells. To date, the most commonly used TCM is indium tin oxide (ITO). However indium is a rare earth metal with a complex geopolitical environment surrounding its supply and production. Furthermore, the oxide family suffers from poor mechanical properties such as brittleness and generally requires either high temperature synthesis (>400°C) or vacuum processes for their deposition. For these reasons, research in recent years has focused on the discovery or the design of a TCM to replace ITO.
This thesis applies a dual approach combining simulations and experiments to explore the fabrication and optimisation of silver nanowire networks for use as a TCM and to improve the understanding of their physical properties. The simulation contribution focuses on the application of percolation modelling to 2D nanowire networks while the experimental part explores the electrical and optical properties of silver nanowire networks and their electrical behaviour under thermal annealing. We present in this work the modelling of 2D stick percolation systems initially composed of perfect idealised sticks, and then, investigate the influence of parameters such as length distributions, angular distributions or shape (curved nanowires). We address the divergence of the critical density for the onset of percolation observed for small system sizes and introduce some preliminary work on simulating the collection (or injection) efficiency of charges by a nanowire network.
The experimental component provides a discussion of the impact of wire length, wire diameter, network density and fabrication technique on the optical and electrical properties of silver nanowire networks. An in-depth study of the effect of thermal annealing on the networks properties was undertaken, which revealed several mechanisms responsible for the initial reduction of resistance and the observed final loss of conductivity. An original observation enables the revelation of geometrical quantized percolation for rather sparse networks. Finally we conclude that silver nanowire networks are an excellent prospect as a TCM to replace ITO: these materials have superior mechanical properties and enable comparable and even superior electro-optical properties.