Fabrication of highly flexible transparent conductive film with a sandwich-structure consisted of graphene/silver nanowire/graphene

Highly flexible transparent conductive films with a sandwich structure consisted of graphene/silver nanowires (AgNWs)/graphene (GAG) were fabricated by a facile method of combining vacuum filtration with acetone vapor treatment. This approach involves two processes: the vacuum filtration of the dispersion solution of the graphene, the AgNWs, and the graphene in turn through a porous mixed cellulose esters membrane (MCEM); the treatment of MCEM using acetone vapor to form a transparent GAG film. The GAG film has sheet resistances of as low as ∼4.6 Ω/□ at the transmittance of ∼81% at 550 nm, and exhibited impressive mechanical robustness against bending, scratching and adhering. This excellent performance can be attributed to the superior properties of the high-quality graphene and its roles of not only connecting the discrete AgNWs but also binding them tightly by its restacking characteristic in a sandwich-structured form. The results suggest that the GAG film has potential applications in flexible electronic and optoelectronic devices.