Transparent electrodes pave way for flexible electronics

Currently, transparent electrodes are made from a material known as indium tin oxide (ITO). Despite being relatively good at its job, ITO is expensive due to its limited availability, not particularly flexible, and it also degrades over time, becoming brittle and hindering performance. As an alternative, the team from Purdue University draped layers of graphene over silver nanowires to form an ultra thin hybrid film. In testing, the new material was said to demonstrate a sheet resistance five times better than that of ITO. It also showed little resistance when bent, opening up the possibility of it being used in everything from flexible solar cells and colour monitors, to information displays on eyeglasses and visors.