Method of manufacturing silver miniwire films

A method of manufacturing a silver miniwire film, comprising:

• providing a substrate;
• providing a plurality of silver miniwires, wherein the plurality of silver miniwires are provide by:
• providing a silver ink core component containing >60 wt % silver nanoparticles dispersed in a silver carrier, wherein the silver carrier is water;
• providing a shell component containing a film forming polymer dispersed in a shell carrier, wherein the shell carrier is a water alcohol mixture, wherein the water alcohol mixture contains ≧50 wt % alcohol;
• wherein the silver carrier and the shell carrier are selected such that the interfacial tension between the shell component and the silver ink core component is 2 to 10 mN/m;
• providing a target;
• coelectrospinning the silver ink core component and the shell component thereby depositing on the target a core shell fiber having a core and a shell surrounding the core, wherein the silver nanoparticles are in the core;
• treating the silver nanoparticles to form the plurality of silver miniwires, wherein the plurality of silver miniwires exhibit an average length, L, of >10 μm;
• and, recovering the plurality of silver miniwires;
• providing a plurality of nonconductive spheres, wherein the plurality of nonconductive spheres have an average particle size of ≦300 μm;
• optionally, providing a matrix material;
• optionally, providing a vehicle;
• combining the plurality of silver miniwires, the plurality of nonconductive spheres, the optional matrix material and the optional vehicle to form a combination;
• applying the combination to a surface of the substrate to form a film;
• removing any volatile components from the film formed on the substrate;
• wherein the film formed on the surface of the substrate exhibits a reduced sheet resistance.