Electrostatic and ionic shielding of Ag nanowires by graphene nanoscrolls for electrochemical applications

Silver nanowires (AgNWs) have been extensively investigated as key candidates for emerging next-generation flexible electronics. However, the large surface area of AgNWs networks renders them vulnerable to corrosion, oxidation and thermally induced coalescence, limiting their practical applications. Here, an organic solvent-assisted lyophilization (OSAL) strategy is developed to induce the self-assembly of reduced graphene oxide rGO into reel-like nanostructures (rGONS) with AgNWs encapsulated to form a robust Ag@rGONS hybrid architecture. The confinement provided by rGO effectively suppresses AgNWs oxidation and coalescence which endows Ag@rGONS composite enhanced thermal stability and corrosion resistance. Multiphysics simulations further reveal that the conductive rGONS shell acts as an electrostatic and ionic shield, redistributing the interfacial electric field and inhibiting chloride-ion accumulation on the Ag surface, thereby reducing the driving force for anodic dissolution. Ag@rGONS has shown superior resistance against thermal and humidity-induced degradation with 3% resistance increase compared to 42% for pristine AgNWs, and maintains stable electrochemical performance over 800 cycles without detectable oxidation. Moreover, a supercapacitor fabricated from Ag@rGONS, PEDOT:PSS and carbon black delivers 94.4% of its initial capacitance after 2000 cycles. This work demonstrates a versatile strategy for stabilizing metal nanomaterials in 2D nanoscrolls for flexible electronics.