MANUFACTURING CONDUCTIVE THIN FILMS COMPRISING GRAPHENE AND METAL NANOWIRES

摘要

Method for manufacturing a conductive thin film comprising forming a composite layer on a substrate, the composite layer comprising a layer of solution processed graphene 6 directly adjacent to a layer of metal nanowires 4. Wherein the layer of metal nanowires may be a monolayer. The metal nanowire layer may be deposited at a density that causes the optical and/or electrical properties of the film to exhibit percolative behaviour to a greater extent than bulk behaviour. Also disclosed is an apparatus for manufacturing a conductive thin film comprising: a metal nanowire forming assembly; a solution processed graphene forming assembly, the nanowire and graphene forming assemblies being configured to form the above composite layer. Depositing graphene by solution processing allows the graphene to fall into gaps between the junctions of the metal nanowire structure, this has been found to decrease the sheet resistance of the layer.