Simple and scalable growth of AgCl nanorods by plasma-assisted strain relaxation on flexible polymer substrates.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 28569751.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/ncomms15650 and PMC identifier 5461508.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Implementing nanostructures on plastic film is indispensable for highly efficient flexible optoelectronic devices. However, due to the thermal and chemical fragility of plastic, nanostructuring approaches are limited to indirect transfer with low throughput. Here, we fabricate single-crystal AgCl nanorods by using a Cl<sub>2</sub> plasma on Ag-coated polyimide. Cl radicals react with Ag to form AgCl nanorods. The AgCl is subjected to compressive strain at its interface with the Ag film because of the larger lattice constant of AgCl compared to Ag. To minimize strain energy, the AgCl nanorods grow in the [200] direction. The epitaxial relationship between AgCl (200) and Ag (111) induces a strain, which leads to a strain gradient at the periphery of AgCl nanorods. The gradient causes a strain-induced diffusion of Ag atoms to accelerate the nanorod growth. Nanorods grown for 45 s exhibit superior haze up to 100% and luminance of optical device increased by up to 33%.