Fabrication and Performance Evaluation of Schottky Diode Device Fabricated Utilizing Ultrathin Silver Nanowires-PEDOT:PSS Composite Electrode

Printable, highly efficient and cost-effective electrodes are an essential component required for modern intelligent electronics. Here, we present the fabrication of a printed silver nanowires and poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate composite electrode through the electrospray technique. Silver nanowires were synthesized in-house using the hybrid polyol method. The structural and optical behavior analyses of silver nanowires were conducted using XRD and UV-Vis spectroscopy, respectively. Optical microscopy revealed presence of defect-free electrosprayed films while FESEM indicated presence of ultrathin (75 nm) silver nanowires. The electrical behavior of the composite electrode indicates that by the addition of silver nanowires, an increase in electrical conductivity (≈300 times) from pristine poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate was achieved. Moreover, a sandwich-structured diode was fabricated using the functional film electrode with polyaniline as a p-type semiconductor. The current-voltage behavior of the fabricated diode reveals the rectification behavior with a very low turn-on-voltage of 1.47 V. The conductive nature of the composite electrode indicates its proficiency as a working electrode in printed electronics.