Highly stable Ag@Au nanowires micromesh as transparent conductive network for stretchable electrochromic modulator

The stretchable electrochromic modulator is one of the most promising energy-saving optoelectronic devices that can be integrated into smart portable and wearable electronics. A lot of focus has been on developing transparent conductive electrodes of stretchable electrochromic modulators, but they generally suffer from poor chemical stability, low photoelectric balance, and unsatisfactory deformability. To address this challenge, we first develop Ag@Au nanowires (NWs) micromesh-based stretchable transparent conductive electrodes (STCEs) using a self-assembled approach, which displays superior photoelectric performance (8.5 Ω sq -1 with a transmittance of 81.5 %), good chemical stability in harsh electrolyte environment (acidic and alkaline) as well as robust mechanical stability (bending, folding, stretching and twisting). As a demonstration, the grown WO 3 on Ag@Au NWs-based STCEs can deliver good electrochromic stability even after bending over 1000 cycles and stretching to 50 %. Moreover, highly soft Zn//WO 3 and polyaniline (PANI)//WO 3 electrochromic modulators were assembled using flexible Ag@Au micromesh STCEs, which still retain uniform electrochromism in neutral and acidic electrolytes respectively. Definitionally, the strategy of in-situ grown Au shell on the surface of AgNWs micromesh provides an innovative solution to fabricate high-performance STCEs for the related portable smart wearable electronic devices.