Sustainable and Highly Durable Nanowire-Based Flexible Transparent Conductive Surfaces for Advanced Electronics - DURATRANS

Project summary

DURATRANS addresses the pressing need for durable and stretchable transparent conductive surfaces (TCS) in the realm of flexible electronics. Current materials like ITO and conducting polymers face sustainability and conductivity challenges, while nanowires, though promising, often have limited lifespans and reduced transparency to conductivity ratio in films. Our key objectives include developing bioinspired TCS (BTCS) capable of >300% stretching, >4x increased shelf life, conductivity below 5 Ω Sq-1, and transparency exceeding 95%. We aim to achieve this by designing highly durable nanowires, incorporating biotic designs, developing novel nanoacoustic methods for microfabrication and conducting a comprehensive characterization process to realize highly durable BTCS. Life cycle assessment will be included to measure environmental impacts. To demonstrate the real-life applications, BTCS will be utilized in the fabrication of transparent e-skins and optoelectrochemical probes.