Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Copper nanowires enable bendable displays and solar cells; Pin-like copper structures self-assemble in solution


"A team of Duke University chemists has perfected a simple way to make tiny copper nanowires in quantity. The cheap conductors are small enough to be transparent, making them ideal for thin-film solar cells, flat-screen TVs and computers, and flexible displays.flexible displays.ible displays.

'Imagine a foldable iPad,' said Benjamin Wiley, an assistant professor of chemistry at Duke. His team reports its findings online in Advanced Materials.

Nanowires made of copper perform better than carbon nanotubes, and are much cheaper than silver nanowires, Wiley said.

The latest flat-panel TVs and computer screens produce images by an array of electronic pixels connected by a transparent conductive layer made from indium tin oxide (ITO). ITO is also used as a transparent electrode in thin-film
solar cells."

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