Patternable and transferable silver nanowire conductors via plasma-enhanced cryo-transferring process towards highly stretchable and transparent capacitive touch sensor array

Stretchable transparent electrode (STE) plays a key role in numerous emerging applications as an indispensable component for future stretchable devices. The embedded STE, as a promising candidate, possesses balanced performances and facile preparation procedures. However, it still suffers from the defects of conductive materials caused by the transferring, which results in the irreversible failure of devices. In this work, a patternable silver nanowire (AgNW) STE was fabricated by a plasma-enhanced cryo-transferring (PEC-transferring) process. Owing to the plasma-induced sintering, the AgNW network obtained remarkable improvement in robustness, which ensured the intact network after transferring and thus led to superior tensile electrical properties of the STE. Furthermore, serpentine patterns were utilized to optimize the tensile electrical properties of the STE, which achieved a figure of merit of 292.8 and 150% resistance changing under 50% strain. As a practical application, a 4 × 3 array of the mutual-capacitive type stretchable touch sensors was demonstrated for future touch sensors in stretchable devices. The PEC-transferring process opened a new avenue for patternable embedded STEs and exhibited its high potential in wearable electronics and the Internet of Thing devices.