Corona patterning of overcoated nanowire transparent conducting coatings

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9711263-B2
Application number	US-201314384100-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 2, 2013
Priority date	May 18, 2012
Publication date	Jul 18, 2017
Grant date	Jul 18, 2017

Abstract

A method comprising: providing a transparent electrically conductive film comprising: a transparent substrate ( 14 ); a composite layer ( 18 ) comprising: an electrically conductive layer disposed on at least a portion of a major surface of the transparent substrate ( 14 ) and comprising a plurality of interconnecting metallic nanowires ( 12 ); and a polymeric overcoat layer disposed on a portion of the electrically conductive layer, to provide a coated area of the electrically conductive layer; and patternwise exposing the coated area of the electrically conductive layer to a corona discharge to provide a patternwise exposed electrically conductive film comprising (1) an un exposed region ( 122 ) of the coated region having a first electrical resistivity, and (2) an exposed region ( 121 ) having a second electrical resistivity; wherein the exposed region is less electrically conductive than the unexposed region, and wherein there is a ratio of the second electrical resistivity over the first electrical resistivity of at least 1000:1.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
providing a transparent electrically conductive film comprising:
a transparent substrate;
a composite layer comprising:
an electrically conductive layer disposed on at least a portion of a major surface of the transparent substrate and comprising a plurality of interconnecting metallic nanowires; and
a polymeric overcoat layer disposed on a portion of the electrically conductive layer, to provide a coated area of the electrically conductive layer; and

patternwise exposing the coated area of the electrically conductive layer to a corona discharge to provide a patternwise exposed electrically conductive film comprising (1) an unexposed region of the coated area having a first electrical resistivity, and (2) an exposed region having a second electrical resistivity;
wherein the exposed region is less electrically conductive than the unexposed region, and wherein there is a ratio of the second electrical resistivity over the first electrical resistivity of at least 1000:1;
wherein the metallic nanowires have at least one cross-sectional dimension less than 200 nm and the polymeric overcoat layer has a thickness of at least 200 nm; and
wherein the corona discharge ablates portions of the plurality of interconnecting metallic nanowires forming trenches in the electrically conductive layer.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the patternwise exposing comprises exposing the coated area of the electrically conductive layer to the corona discharge through a patterned mask.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the patterned mask is laminated to the coated area of the electrically conductive layer.

4. The method of claim 2 , further comprising removing the patterned mask from the unexposed region.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the patternwise exposing comprises contacting the coated area of the electrically conductive layer to a patterned surface of a corona discharge treatment roller.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the patternwise exposing comprises contacting the coated area of the electrically conductive layer to a patterned surface of a corona discharge treatment belt.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of interconnecting metallic nanowires comprises silver nanowires.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the exposed region and the unexposed region have substantially the same haze values.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the exposed region and the unexposed region have substantially the same visible light transmission values.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the patternwise exposed electrically conductive film is optically clear.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein patternwise exposing the electrically conductive layer to the corona discharge comprises chemically or physically transforming portions of the metallic nanowires to electrically insulative regions.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the exposed region has a width that is at least 100 micrometers.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the exposed region has an area that is at least 1 cm 2 .

Assignees

• 3M Innovative Properties Co

Inventors

• Pellerite Mark J
• Kirk Seth M
• Lechuga Hyacinth L

Classifications

• H05K9/009

  comprising electro-conductive fibres, e.g. metal fibres, carbon fibres, metallised textile fibres, electro-conductive mesh, woven, non-woven mat, fleece, cross-linked · CPC title

• H05K9/0094

  being light-transmitting, e.g. transparent, translucent · CPC title

• Y02E10/549

  Organic PV cells · CPC title

• H01B1/22 Primary

  the conductive material comprising metals or alloys · CPC title

• H01L51/442

  Electricity · mapped topic