Biodegradable, Flexible, and Transparent Conducting Silver Nanowires/Polylactide Film with High Performance for Optoelectronic Devices

Abstract

As a synthetic renewable and biodegradable material, the application of polylactide (PLA) in the green flexible electronics has attracted intensive attention due to the increasingly serious issue of electronic waste. Unfortunately, the development of PLA-based optoelectronic devices is greatly hindered by the poor heat resistance and mechanical property of PLA. To overcome these limitations, herein, we report a facile and promising route to fabricate silver nanowires/PLA (AgNW/PLA) film with largely improved properties by utilizing the stereocomplex (SC) crystallization between poly(L-lactide) (PLLA) and poly(D-lactide) (PDLA). Through embedding the AgNW networks into the PLLA:PDLA blend matrix via a transfer method, the AgNW/PLLA:PDLA film with both high transparency and excellent conductivity was obtained. Compared with the AgNW/PLLA film, the formation of SC crystallites in the composites matrix could significantly enhance not only heat resistance but also mechanical strength of the AgNW/PLLA:PDLA film. Exceptionally, the AgNW/PLLA:PDLA film exhibited superior flexibility and could maintain excellent electrical conductivity stability even under the condition of 10,000 repeated bending cycles and 100 tape test cycles. In addition, the organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) with the AgNW/PLLA:PDLA films as electrodes were successfully fabricated in this work for the first time and they exhibited highly flexible, luminous, as well as hydrolytic degradation properties. This work could provide a low-cost and environment-friendly avenue towards fabricating high-performanced PLA-based biodegradable electronics.