In Situ TEM Characterization of Crystal Plane Diffusion Reconstruction of Heated Silver Nanowires: Implications for Sensors, Transparent Electrodes, and Photovoltaics

Silver nanowires (AgNWs) are promising materials for energy-related applications. Specifically, it shows excellent application value in flexible conductive materials, sensors, transparent electrodes, and photovoltaic solar cells; there is limited report on the study of the deep mechanism of the failure behavior during sintering of AgNWs. In this study, we investigated the diffusion melting process and interface dynamics occurring around the AgNWs with a diameter of 15–25 nm in the in situ transmission electron microscope. Through the evolution of the microstructure of silver nanowires during the heating process, first-principles density functional theory (DFT) calculations, and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, we reveal the melting mechanism of silver nanowires with different crystallographic facets, which involves atomic diffusion, crystal plane reconstruction, and crystal plane growth. The results reported herein will help to better understand the dynamic processes in silver nanowire structures and enable the design of nanoelectronics devices to customize their physical properties.