The effect of rod orientation on electrical anisotropy in silver nanowire networks for ultra-transparent electrodes

Two-dimensional networks made of metal nanowires are excellent paradigms for the experimental observation of electrical percolation caused by continuous jackstraw-like physical pathways. Such systems became very interesting as alternative material in transparent electrodes, which are fundamental components in display devices. This work presents the experimental characterization of low-haze and ultra-transparent electrodes based on silver nanowires. The films are created by dip-coating, a feasible and scalable liquid film coating technique. We have found dominant alignment of the silver nanowires in withdrawal direction. The impact of this structural anisotropy on electrical anisotropy becomes more pronounced for low area coverage. The rod alignment does not influence the technical usability of the films as significant electrical anisotropy occurs only at optical transmission higher than 99 %. For films with lower transmission, electrical anisotropy becomes negligible. In addition to the experimental work, we have carried out computational studies in order to explain our findings further and compare them to our experiments and previous literature. This paper presents the first experimental observation of electrical anisotropy in two-dimensional silver nanowire networks close at the percolation threshold.