A research team led by Benjamin Wiley from the Duke University has developed a new nanomaterial from copper and nickel.
These copper-nickel nanowires are flexible and electrically conductive. Their film form demonstrates electrical conductivity even under circumstances that stop electron transfer in plain copper and silver nanowires. The researchers have described their novel nanomaterial in NanoLetters.
Wiley informed that since copper-nickel nanowire-made films can be produced at a low cost and have high stability, they hold potential in printed electronics applications and products such as interactive clothing, smart packaging, and paper.
The innovative copper-nickel nanowires are a potential inexpensive replacement to indium tin oxide (ITO). Wiley's lab developed a fast, low-cost coating process to produce highly flexible copper nanowire films from a solution. However, their orange tint made them unsuitable for display screen applications. Moreover, they undergo oxidation during their exposure to air.
To overcome these issues, Wiley’s team devised a mixing technique, wherein copper nanowires were heated in a nickel salt solution to add nickel into them. Wiley stated that the resulting nanowires were grey in color.
To test the nanomaterial’s oxidation resistance and electrical conductivity, the research team baked it at different temperatures. The test results demonstrated that the new copper-nickel nanowire films are able to resist oxidation for 400 years at room temperature prior to losing their 50% electrical conductivity. However, these nanowire films cannot immediately be used as a substitute to ITO films in flat-panel displays because their electrical conductivity is inferior to ITO films for the same amount of transparency.
Nevertheless, the copper-nickel nanowires are better replacement to silver and copper for printed electronics applications, said Wiley.
Source: http://www.duke.edu/