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Silver nanowires (AgNWs) have shown great promise as transparent conductive films (TCFs) due to their excellent optoelectronic performance. In order to replace indium tin oxide (ITO), considerable intricate methods have been adopted in combination, thus largely restricting their large-scale applications. Currently, it remains a concern that the research on AgNWs-based TCFs is still required great efforts to balance the high optical transparency and low resistance simultaneously. Here, we deposited AgNWs network onto silica nanospheres (SNSs) antireflection (AR) layer via a facile solution method. The assembled SNSs structure can effectively reduce reflection of the substrate. AgNWs-based composite TCFs achieve optical transmittance of 99.84%, elevating the transmittance by 6.94% with the sheet resistance reaching 49.43 Ω sq−1 declined by 8.66% compared to the pristine AgNWs film. Due to the surface adsorption of nanospheres and the mutual electrophilic effect, the interaction between AgNWs and SNSs is strong, hence exerting the synergetic effect on optoelectronic performance. Furthermore, the results have demonstrated that SNSs AR nanostructure contributes to moderating the interface property of pristine AgNWs film, indicating that it is favorable to ameliorate the impact of increased surface roughness stemming from the interwoven nanowires network structure. The whole solution-processed AgNWs/SNSs composite films in our work bring about great potential engineering for transparent conductors or other optoelectronic devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the aim of improving the photocatalytic activity for water splitting, novel core–shell-structured crystalline-BaTiO3/amorphous-BaTiO3−x/crystalline-CdS composite nanocubes are prepared by a facile two-step synthesis approach. Basic characterization techniques such as X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy are carried out on the as-prepared composite nanocubes in order to confirm the quality of their crystal structure, morphology and chemical components correspondingly. UV-Vis-NIR measurements of the as-prepared composite nanocubes validate the presence of extended visible-light absorbance due to oxygen-deficient BaTiO3−x. Photoelectrochemical tests are carried out on the as-prepared nanocomposite films that are coated directly on indium tin oxide (ITO) glass substrates. The as-prepared composite nanocubes show a photocurrent density of 100 μA cm−2 without electric field poling, whereas they show about 200 μA cm−2 with an electric field poling of 18.8 kV cm−1. This study suggests that the photoelectrochemical performance is highest in our prepared BaTiO3/BaTiO3−x/CdS composite film compared to the pure BaTiO3, CdS and BaTiO3/BaTiO3−x films, and it may offer a new potential route for designing cost-effective, highly stable and efficient photocatalysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphene-based transparent conductive films (TCFs) are promising alternative to indium tin oxide owing to their high transmittance and conductivity. Graphene films were directly deposited on quartz substrates by assisted catalysis of Cu nanoparticles in ambient pressure chemical vapor deposition. Growth conditions, including the concentration of Cu nanoparticles as catalyst, flow rate of CH4, temperature and growth time, were systematically investigated to optimize the quality and performance of graphene TCFs. With the optimized growth conditions, the obtained graphene TCFs exhibit good performance with sheet resistance of 2.48 kΩ sq−1 at transmittance of 82.83%. With this method, graphene TCFs with good performance were obtained without the need of a complex transfer process of graphene, opening a considerable route toward fabricating graphene TCFs on dielectric substrates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]