A Highly Stable Electrode with Embedded Structure Formed through a Catalytically Oxidative Decomposition Mechanism

Silver nanofiber (AgNF) is a promising candidate for flexible electrodes because of its outstanding physical and electrical properties. However, for mass production of devices, the stability and robustness of AgNF-based electrodes are still required to be improved. In this work, a facile and cost-effective technique is developed to embed AgNFs into engineering-applied polyimide (PI) substrate, which is realized through a silver-catalyzed oxidative decomposition process. The embedded structure effectively solves surface roughness and adhesion issue, improving electrode performance during scratching and tape peeling test. Besides, the trenches formed during embedding of AgNFs can be used to deposit metals to enhance heat-tolerance property of electrode. More importantly, benefiting from excellent flexibility of AgNFs and PI film, along with well protection realized by the embedded structure and electroplated metal, the electrodes show outstanding bending stability. Finally, a flexible nanoheater with good heating property and mechanical flexibility is fabricated to demonstrate potential application of the electrode. It is believed that such a method developed in this work will facilitate the fabrication of flexible electronics with high performance.