Graphene/silver nanowire sandwich structures for transparent conductive films Original Research Article

We report a simple graphene/silver nanowire (AgNW)/graphene sandwich structure that can be used to prepare highly transparent conductive films; the electrical conductivity of this structure is superior to those of pure AgNW or graphene/AgNW films. Upon increasing the graphene content, the ratio of the direct current (DC) conductivity to the optical conductivity of the three-layer graphene/AgNW/graphene film increased from 4.7 to 44, primarily as a result of connecting and clipping effects. At low contents of AgNW, the graphene played a role of connecting the AgNWs, thereby increasing the DC conductivity by nearly seven orders of magnitude relative to that of pure AgNW films; when the AgNW content was high, the DC conductivity was also enhanced, by 23.8-fold. Observing the second-order zone-boundary phonons, the enhancement in conductivity resulted mainly from tighter contact between the AgNWs, arising from restacking of the top and bottom graphene sheets.