Copper Nanowires Push Bendable Screens & Solar Cells

Reporting online in Advanced Materials on the universities web site, the research team say they have worked out how to produce transparent and conductive copper nanowires simply and in mass.
 
Last week, Benjamin Wiley, an assistant professor of chemistry at Duke, told the media that "nanowires made of copper perform better than carbon nanotubes and are much cheaper than silver nanowires." 
 
Traditionally flat-panel TVs and computer screens produce images through a transparent conductive layer made from indium tin oxide (ITO). ITO is also used as a transparent electrode in thin-film solar cells.
 
But, according to Wiley, ITO has problems. For a start it's too brittle for flexible screens, the production process is inefficient and it's expensive.
 
"If we are going to have these ubiquitous electronics and solar cells," Wiley was reported as saying, "we need to use materials that are abundant in the earth's crust and don't take much energy to extract." 
 
Enter copper. Copper is not only much more abundant than indium or silver-and cheaper-but vastly outperforms carbon, the other nanowire contender.
 
The Duke team apparently 'grew' the copper nanowires in a water-based solution based on a process of crystal type production. Wiley said the process will need to be scaled up for commercial use and the technology comes with a few issues that still need to be straightened out.
 
More information: http://news.duke.edu/2010/05/CUnano.html