Silver nanowires (AgNWs) surrounded by insulating poly(vinylpyrrolidone) have been synthesized by a polyol process and employed as transparent electrodes. The AgNW transparent electrodes can be fabricated by heat-treatment at about 200 °C which forms connecting junctions between AgNWs. Such a heating process is, however, one of the drawbacks of the fabrication of AgNW electrodes on heat-sensitive substrates. Here it has been demonstrated that the electrical conductivity of AgNW electrodes can be improved by mechanical pressing at 25 MPa for 5 s at room temperature. This simple process results in a low sheet resistance of 8.6 Ω/square and a transparency of 80.0%, equivalent to the properties of the AgNW electrodes heated at 200 °C. This technique makes it possible to fabricate AgNW transparent electrodes on heat-sensitive substrates. The AgNW electrodes on poly(ethylene terephthalate) films exhibited high stability of their electrical conductivities against the repeated bending test. In addition, the surface roughness of the pressed AgNW electrodes is one-third of that of the heat-treated electrode because the AgNW junctions are mechanically compressed. As a result, an organic solar cell fabricated on the pressed AgNW electrodes exhibited a power conversion as much as those fabricated on indium tin oxide electrodes. These findings enable continuous roll-to-roll processing at room temperature, resulting in relatively simple, inexpensive, and scalable processing that is suitable for forthcoming technologies such as organic solar cells, flexible displays, and touch screens.

We demonstrate the fabrication of highly transparent conductive networks on a cellulose nanofiber paper, called cellulose nanopaper. Uniform coating of the conductive nanomaterials, such as silver nanowires (AgNWs) and carbon nanotubes, is achieved by simple filtration of their aqueous dispersions through the cellulose nanopaper, which acts as both filter and transparent flexible substrate. The as-prepared AgNW networks on the nanopaper offer sheet resistance of 12 Ω sq.⁻¹ with optical transparency of 88%, which is up to 75 times lower than the sheet resistance on a polyethylene terephthalate film prepared by conventional coating processes. These results indicate that the ‘filtration coating’ provides uniformly connected conductive networks because of drainage in the perpendicular direction through paper-specific nanopores, whereas conventional coating processes inevitably cause self-aggregation and uneven distribution of the conductive nanomaterials because of the hard-to-control drying process, as indicated by the well-known coffee-ring effect. Furthermore, the conductive networks are embedded in the surface layer of the nanopaper, showing strong adhesion to the nanopaper substrate and providing foldability with negligible changes in electrical conductivity. This filtration process is thus expected to offer an effective coating approach for various conductive materials, and the resulting transparent conductive nanopaper is a promising material for future paper electronics.

Foldable antennas are required for small-sized electronic devices with high portability. Antennas on plastic substrates provide high flexibility and high sensitivity but are not foldable. Antennas on paper substrates are foldable, but their sensitivity is poor because of their coarse surfaces. In this paper, nanopapers with smooth surfaces and high foldability are fabricated from 30 nm wide cellulose nanofibers for use as foldable antenna substrates. Silver nanowires are then printed on the nanopapers to act as antenna lines. These nanopaper antennas with silver nanowires exhibit high sensitivity because of their smooth surfaces and high foldability because of their network structures. Also, their high foldability allows the mechanical tuning of their resonance points over a wide frequency range without using additional components such as condensers and coils. Nanopaper antennas with silver nanowires are therefore suitable for the realization of future foldable electronics.

Optically transparent nanofiber paper containing silver nanowires showed high electrical conductivity and maintained the high transparency and low weight of the original transparent nanofiber paper. We demonstrated some procedures of optically transparent and electrically conductive cellulose nanofiber paper for lightweight and portable electronic devices. The nanofiber paper enhanced high conductivity without any post treatments such as heating or mechanical pressing, when cellulose nanofiber dispersions were dropped on a silver nanowire thin layer. The transparent conductive nanofiber paper showed high electrical durability in repeated folding tests, due to dual advantages of the hydrophilic affinity between cellulose and silver nanowires and the entanglement between cellulose nanofibers and silver nanowires. Their optical transparency and electrical conductivity were as high as those of ITO glass. Therefore, using this conductive transparent paper, organic solar cells were produced that achieved a power conversion of 3.2%, which was as high as that of ITO-based solar cells.

Highly conductive circuits are fabricated on nanopapers composed of densely packed 15–60 nm wide cellulose nanofibers. Conductive materials are deposited on the nanopaper and mechanically sieved through the densely packed nanofiber networks. As a result, their conductivity is enhanced to the level of bulk silver and LED lights are successfully illuminated via these metallic conductive lines on the nanopaper. Under the same deposition conditions, traditional papers consisting of micro-sized pulp fibers produced very low conductivity lines with non-uniform boundaries because of their larger pore structures. These results indicate that advanced, lightweight and highly flexible devices can be realized on cellulose nanopaper using continuous deposition processes. Continuous deposition on nanopaper is a promising approach for a simple roll-to-roll manufacturing process.