A flexible and transparent amorphous-indium tin oxide/silver/crystalline-indium tin oxide (a-ITO/Ag/c-ITO) triple-layer structure was prepared as an electrode for capacitive-type touch screen panels (TSPs). A very thin metal film of silver (Ag) was inserted between two ITO layers, and the triple-layer structures were deposited on a colorless polyimide (CPI) substrate by a sputtering method. It was found that the tunable electrical and optical properties of the a-ITO/Ag/c-ITO triple-layer structures were critically affected by the thickness of the inserted Ag layer. The optimized flexible a-ITO/Ag/c-ITO triple-layer structure has low sheet resistance, high optical transmittance, and low surface roughness. In addition, during the 30 000 bending cycles, the resistance change (ΔR) of the flexible a-ITO/Ag/c-ITO triple-layer structure was 4.12%. For environmental reliability, the ΔR values of the flexible a-ITO/Ag/c-ITO triple-layer structure were 2.86% and 0.96% at the environmental temperature of 80 °C-50% and −40 °C, respectively. The above results indicate that the a-ITO/Ag/c-ITO triple-layer structure can be utilized to construct a promising TCO electrode. Finally, flexible and foldable capacitive-type TSPs were fabricated with multiple touch points using the a-ITO/Ag/c-ITO triple-layer electrode.

In this study, a p-type 2 at% lithium-doped nickel oxide (abbreviation L2NiO) solution was prepared using Ni(NO₃)₂·6H₂O, and LiNO₃·L2NiO thin films were deposited using an atomizer by spraying the L2NiO solution onto a glass substrate. The sprayed specimen was heated at a low temperature (140 °C) and annealed at different high temperatures and times. This method can reduce the evaporation ratio of the L2NiO solution, affording high-order nucleating points on the substrate. The L2NiO thin films were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, UV–visible spectroscopy, and electrical properties. The figure of merit (FOM) for L2NiO thin films was calculated by Haacke’s formula, and the maximum value was found to be 5.3 × 10⁻⁶ Ω⁻¹. FOM results revealed that the L2NiO thin films annealed at 600 °C for 3 h exhibited satisfactory optical and electrical characteristics for photoelectric device applications. Finally, a transparent heterojunction diode was successfully prepared using the L2NiO/indium tin oxide (ITO) structure. The current–voltage characteristics revealed that the transparent heterojunction diode exhibited rectifying properties, with a turn-on voltage of 1.04 V, a leakage current of 1.09 × 10⁻⁴ A/cm² (at 1.1 V), and an ideality factor of n = 0.46.

A novel nanoarchitecture-reinforced poly(lactic acid) (PLA) nanocomposite was prepared using multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT)-grafted silica nanohybrids as reinforcements. MWCNT-grafted silica nanohybrids were synthesized by the generation of silica nanoparticles on the MWCNT surface through the sol-gel technique. This synthetic method involves organo-modified MWCNTs that are dispersed in tetrahydrofuran, which incorporates tetraethoxysilane that undergoes an ultrasonic sol-gel process. Gelation yielded highly dispersed silica on the organo-modified MWCNTs. The structure and properties of the nanohybrids were established using ²⁹Si nuclear magnetic resonance, Raman spectroscopy, wide-angle X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis, and transmission electron microscopy. The resulting MWCNT nanoarchitectures were covalently assembled into silica nanoparticles, which exhibited specific and controllable morphologies and were used to reinforce biodegradable PLA. The tensile strength and the heat deflection temperature (HDT) of the PLA/MWCNT-grafted silica nanocomposites increased when the MWCNT-grafted silica was applied to the PLA matrix; by contrast, the surface resistivity of the PLA/MWCNT-grafted silica nanocomposites appeared to decline as the amount of MWCNT-grafted silica in the PLA matrix increased. Overall, the reinforcement of PLA using MWCNT-grafted silica nanoarchitectures was efficient and improved its mechanical properties, heat resistance, and electrical resistivity.

In this study, radio frequency magnetron sputtering was used to deposit nickel oxide thin films (NiO, deposition power of 100 W) and titanium-doped zinc oxide thin films (TZO, varying deposition powers) on glass substrates to form p(NiO)-n(TZO) heterojunction diodes with high transmittance. The structural, optical, and electrical properties of the TZO and NiO thin films and NiO/TZO heterojunction devices were investigated with scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns, UV-visible spectroscopy, Hall effect analysis, and current-voltage (I-V) analysis. XRD analysis showed that only the (111) diffraction peak of NiO and the (002) and (004) diffraction peaks of TZO were observable in the NiO/TZO heterojunction devices, indicating that the TZO thin films showed a good c-axis orientation perpendicular to the glass substrates. When the sputtering deposition power for the TZO thin films was 100, 125, and 150 W, the I-V characteristics confirmed that a p-n junction characteristic was successfully formed in the NiO/TZO heterojunction devices. We show that the NiO/TZO heterojunction diode was dominated by the space-charge limited current theory.

A self-powered complementary electrochromic device (CECD) driven by a high open-circuit voltage InGaN/GaN multiple quantum well (MQW) solar cell has been designed.