Solution electrowriting of highly stable TiN nanofiber pattern for transparent electrode under extreme environment

• Published in: Journal of the American Ceramic Society 2019-07, Vol.102 (7), p.3972-3979
• Main Authors: Hu, Sanyuan, Chen, Tao, Liang, Jianye, Zhou, Huamin, Li, Dequn, Li, Heping, Yan, Youwei
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: chemical stability; Corrosion effects; Corrosion prevention; Corrosion resistance; Corrosion tests; Electrical resistivity; Electrodes; Extreme environments; figure of merit; Geometry; Indium tin oxides; Industrial development; nanofiber network; Nanofibers; Organic chemistry; Oxidation resistance; Photovoltaic cells; solution electrospinning; Tin oxides; transparent electrode
• ISSN: 0002-7820; 1551-2916
• DOI: 10.1111/jace.16257

The fast developing electronic industry boosts higher demand of transparent electrode. Nanofiber network design provides a new platform for finding alternative materials to replace the traditional indium‐doped tin oxide (ITO) film as transparent electrode. In this work, the TiN nanofiber network with a micron‐scale precise geometry was firstly assembled by solution electrowriting. Unlike the ordinary opaque TiN film or bulk, the geometry patterned TiN nanofiber network achieved an ultrahigh transparency above 90%. Due to the electrical conductive virtue of TiN, the network reached a relatively low sheet resistance of 10.3 Ω/sq that can be comparable to ITO and even metal nanofibers. The combination of high transparency and low sheet resistance in TiN nanofiber network paves a way for its application as transparent electrode. Moreover, the figure‐of‐merit of TiN nanofiber transparent electrode was controllable by simply adjusting the geometry size of TiN nanofiber pattern. A series of oxidation resistance and corrosion resistance tests were additionally carried out, which caused little effect on the performance of TiN nanofiber transparent electrode. This excellent antioxidative and anticorrosive property demonstrates the high chemical durability of TiN nanofiber network, especially compared to metal nanofiber networks. The TiN nanofiber network with a micron‐scale precise patterning has been assembled on quartz glass successfully by solution electrowriting. The obtained network realized a relative low sheet resistance of 10.3% at a high transparency of 90%, which is expected to be applied as transparent electrode in the future.