Temperature-Regulated Modified Hot Injection Enables Scalable Synthesis of Uniform Ag Nanowires for Stretchable Strain Sensor

초록

The widespread use of silver nanowires in stretchable electronics is hindered by challenges in scalable synthesis, particularly poor control over diameter uniformity, the formation of silver nanoparticle byproducts, and limited reproducibility. These issues compromise the structural consistency and electrical performance of Ag NW-based devices. Here, we report a temperature-ramping-regulated semihot injection strategy that enables the controlled synthesis of Ag NWs with narrow diameter distribution and high aspect ratio. Systematic tuning of the precursor injection temperature reveals the competing kinetics of Ag+ reduction, silver halide formation, and multiply twinned particle nucleation. A moderate ramping rate (2.0 degrees C/min) optimizes supersaturation levels, suppressing unwanted nucleation and promoting anisotropic wire growth with an average diameter of similar to 28 nm. To demonstrate the functional performance of the synthesized Ag NWs, we fabricate a stretchable strain sensor by embedding the wires in a PDMS-SEBS matrix. The sensor achieves a high gauge factor of 369.6, excellent stretchability up to 100%, and stable operation over 5,000 cycles, validating the high quality of the Ag NWs.

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