LAUSR

Abstract Silver nanowire thin films are a promising material for an application in optoelectronic and photonic devices. The refractive index is one of the most fundamental optical properties, yet for silver nanowire films it has not been studied so far. In this study, long silver nanowires (L-Ag NWs) were synthesized via a polyol-based thermal method and then spin-coated onto glass substrates. The optical transmittance properties of L-Ag NW thin films were characterized by UV–VIS spectrometry, refractive index, dielectric coefficient of the L-Ag NW films were determined from the transmittance and reflectance data. The results show that the refractive index of the L-Ag NW film remains nearly constant over a wide wavelength range, whereas the extinction coefficient first decreased and then subsequently increased.