Sintering of Silver Nanoparticles at Room-Temperature for Conductive Ink Applications

Abstract

Silver (Ag) nanoparticles synthesized in an aqueous system was sintered at room temperature using NaCl solution. The Ag nanoparticles have an average diameter of about 24 nm. After dispersing the Ag nanoparticles in 50mM NaCl solution, a significant increase in particle size to about 206 nm was observed. On the other hand, the particle size was also increased to about 175 nm when the Ag nanoparticles were printed and then 50mM NaCl solution was dropped onto the printed Ag nanoparticles. The enlargement of particle size was accompanied by the increase in conductivity of the Ag nanoparticle ink. The resistance was reduced from 57.7 to 6.5 and 6.7 ohms for the as-prepared and sintered Ag nanoparticles using two different treatments, respectively. The sintered Ag nanoparticle ink formulation exhibit high conductivity when drawn on both cellulose acetate film and bond paper even after bending and folding of the substrates.