Editorial pubs.acs.org/cm
Cite This: Chem. Mater. 2018, 30, 4875−4876
Wired Chemistry: The Synthetic Chemistry that Made Silver Nanowire-Based Electrodes Possible Chemistry of Materials’ 1k Club
Chem. Mater. 2018.30:4875-4876. Downloaded from pubs.acs.org by 79.133.107.250 on 08/19/18. For personal use only.
B
along the axial direction to evolve into uniform nanowires with a pentagonal cross section (Figure 1). This mechanism turns out to be a general one and has been successfully applied to other noble metals such as copper, gold, and palladium. Although it was not our original intention or motivation, we are delighted to see that the technology on silver nanowires has led to commercial success over the past decade. This new class of nanomaterials was commercialized by a number of companies as a replacement for indium−tin−oxide (ITO) thin films for the production of conductive, transparent, and flexible coatings critical to applications such as touchscreen displays (e.g., smart phones), tablet PCs, sensors, and electronic textiles. There are hundreds of publications and patents on this class of nanomaterials, including those related to protocol refinement, structure−property relationship, and device fabrication. In fact, silver nanowires can be considered the most extensively studied one-dimensional conductive nanostructures other than carbon nanotubes. CM: If you had to put your finger on it, what made your article special? What are you most happy about when you reread it? YX: This article actually is a follow-up article for a communication published earlier in Nano Letters (2002, 2, 165−168). As a full paper, we systematically investigated all the experimental parameters in an effort to optimize the conditions for generating silver nanowires with uniform, controlled diameters. Although we were unable to elucidate the growth mechanism, a detailed analysis of all experimental parameters allowed other groups to quickly jump onto this new class of nanomaterials by duplicating and refining the synthesis and further exploring their unique properties and applications. When I reread this article, I am most happy about the detailed description and analysis of the synthesis protocols, as well as the UV−vis spectroscopy and electrical conductivity measurements. I guess it might be a combination of the high transparency in the visible region and high conductivity that has attracted the attention of researchers from other fields, motivating them to explore the application as a replacement for ITO coating. CM: What’s your advice to young scientists trying to discover the next breakthrough in material science? YX: Well, when we published the very first few papers on the chemical synthesis of silver nanowires, we had no idea that this class of nanomaterials would become one of the next breakthroughs in materials science by triggering a broad range of technological developments and commercial applications. We were just trying to satisfy our curiosity! In fact, the research community did not appreciate our work either. Our first paper was submitted to Science and it was rejected by the
efore silver nanowire-based electrodes became widely studied and used over the past decade for flexible electronics,1 an efficient method was needed to reproducibly and cleanly prepare these monodisperse nanomaterials. Well in advance of the explosive growth of this area, Professor Younan Xia and his team published a highly cited, influential paper in Chemistry of Materials in 2002 that broke the ground necessary for these applications, entitled “Uniform Silver Nanowires Synthesis by Reducing AgNO3 with Ethylene Glycol in the Presence of Seeds and Poly(Vinyl Pyrrolidone)”.2 The paper has been cited 1368 times (Google Scholar) and 1030 times (Web of Science), thus far. As part of our 1k Club series of editorials with the authors of papers cited more than 1000 times, we (CM) interviewed Prof. Xia (YX) to ask questions about what was driving them to work on these materials before they became very popular. CM: At what stage of your academic career were you when you submitted this article to Chemistry of Materials? Who were the other authors on the paper, and at what stage were they? Where are they now? YX: When this article was submitted in May 2002, I had just received approval from the University of Washington Board of Regents for promotion to the rank of associate professor with tenure. This article was coauthored by Yugang Sun (a postdoctoral fellow), Yadong Yin (a fourth year PhD candidate who was about to graduate), Brian Mayers (a third year PhD candidate), and Thurston Herricks (a second year PhD candidate). Yugang later became a staff scientist at Argonne National Laboratory and then moved to Temple University to take a position of associate professor of chemistry; Yadong is now a full professor of chemistry at the University of California, Riverside. Brian was the VP for Technology Development at Nano Terra until last year and is now involved in the launching of a new company. Thurston switched research groups to work on malaria drug development and now works as a research scientist at the University of Washington. CM: Given the high number of citations of this article, it clearly has had an enormous impact over the years. Where did you think the field was headed when you wrote the article? In your opinion, how has this particular research field evolved ever since? YX: When we wrote that article, there were only a few publications on the chemical synthesis of silver (as well as other metals) nanowires. We were not very sure about the commercial application(s) of our technology and we were mainly driven by fundamental curiosity, that is, how to produce anisotropic nanostructures like nanorods and nanowires from a metal that has a highly symmetric, cubic structure. It took us a number of years to figure out the mechanism or driving force. Basically, silver atoms have to nucleate to generate decahedral seeds with a five-fold twin structure, followed by their growth © 2018 American Chemical Society
Published: August 14, 2018 4875
DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemmater.8b02612 Chem. Mater. 2018, 30, 4875−4876
Chemistry of Materials
■
Editorial
AUTHOR INFORMATION
ORCID
Jillian M. Buriak: 0000-0002-9567-4328 Notes
Views expressed in this editorial are those of the authors and not necessarily the views of the ACS.
■
REFERENCES
(1) Li, B.; Ye, S. R.; Stewart, I. E.; Alvarez, S.; Wiley, B. J. Synthesis and Purification of Silver Nanowires To Make Conducting Films with a Transmittance of 99%. Nano Lett. 2015, 15, 6722−6726. (2) Sun, Y. G.; Yin, Y. D.; Mayers, B. T.; Herricks, T.; Xia, Y. Uniform Silver Nanowires Synthesis by Reducing AgNO3 with Ethylene Glycol in the Presence of Seeds and Poly(Vinyl Pyrrolidone). Chem. Mater. 2002, 14, 4736−4745.
Figure 1. TEM (A) and SEM (B, C) images of silver nanowires from ref 2. Reproduced with permission. Copyright 2002 American Chemical Society.
editor without external review. It was then submitted to J. Am. Chem. Soc. and it was rejected based on the comments from two reviewers. Fortunately, we were able to have it published in Nano Letters without too much delay. That paper has also been cited more than 1000 times. When I read again the comments from the reviewers and the decision letters from the editors, I cannot agree more that you have to follow your own heart and never give up! Gold will shine, no matter what.
Carlos Toro, Managing Editor Jillian M. Buriak, Editor-in-Chief
4876
DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemmater.8b02612 Chem. Mater. 2018, 30, 4875−4876
