Abstract
Herein, a facile synthesis approach for silver nanoparticles is disclosed through reduction action without the need for a peristaltic pump or inert gas shielding has been disclosed. Subsequent electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Ultraviolet–Visible spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy were conducted to characterize the optimized nanoparticles with an average grain size of 29.9 nm. Employing a designed ink containing 35 wt% silver, four types of inks by direct writing showed different printability on the glass surface and conductive behavior. A resistivity value as low as 4.7 × 10−7 Ω m was achieved following basic traditional sintering process at 250 °C for 30 min, along with stable electrical conductivity under repeated bending, suitable for bending in flexible electronic devices. Finally, molecular dynamics simulation was applied to gain a deeper understanding of the melting and sintering processes of Ag nanoparticles during the atomic-level bonding.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
References
D. Gu, X. Shi, R. Poprawe, D.L. Bourell, R. Setchi, J. Zhu, Material-structure-performance integrated laser-metal additive manufacturing. Science. 372(6545), g1487 (2021)
E. MacDonald, R. Wicker, Multiprocess 3D printing for increasing component functionality. Science (2016). https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaf2093
G. Fu, H. Gong, T. Bai, Q. Zhang, H. Wang, Progress and challenges in wearable electrochromic devices: a review. J. Mater. Sci. Mater. Electron. 34(16), 1316 (2023)
C.H. Rao, K. Avinash, B.K.S.V. Varaprasad, S. Goel, A review on printed electronics with digital 3D printing: fabrication techniques, materials, challenges and future opportunities. J. Electron. Mater. 51(6), 2747–2765 (2022)
C. Li, Y. Sun, M. Sun, B. Lin, X. Zhang, Novel cocklebur-like nano silver oxide for low-temperature curing pastes with dense conductive paths. J. Mater. Sci. Mater. Electron. 34(27), 1856 (2023)
D. Türkmen, M. Acer, Kalafat, Lamination curing method for silver nanoparticle inkjet printed flexible electronics: design, uncertainty and performance analysis. J. Mater. Sci. Mater. Electron. (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-023-11220-0
W. Xie, X. Li, M. Zhang, Q. Zhu, X. Sun, Formulating nickel metal organic decomposition ink with low sintering temperature and high conductivity for ink jet printing applications. J. Mater. Sci. Mater. Electron. 34(27), 1872 (2023)
A.H. Espera, J.R.C. Dizon, Q. Chen, Advincula, 3D-printing and advanced manufacturing for electronics. Prog Addit. Manufact. 4(3), 245–267 (2019)
Y. Wang, C. Xu, X. Yu, H. Zhang, M. Han, Multilayer flexible electronics: manufacturing approaches and applications. Mater. Today Phys. 23, 100647 (2022)
F. Torrisi, T. Hasan, W. Wu, Z. Sun, A. Lombardo, T.S. Kulmala, G. Hsieh, S. Jung, F. Bonaccorso, P.J. Paul, D. Chu, A.C. Ferrari, Inkjet-printed graphene electronics, ACS Nano. 6(4), 2992–3006 (2012)
C. López-Iglesias, A.M. Casielles, A. Altay, R. Bettini, C. Alvarez-Lorenzo, C.A. García-González, From the printer to the lungs: inkjet-printed aerogel particles for pulmonary delivery. Chem. Eng. J. 357, 559–566 (2019)
M.S. Onses, E. Sutanto, P.M. Ferreira, A.G. Alleyne, J.A. Rogers, Mechanisms, capabilities, and applications of high-resolution electrohydrodynamic jet printing. Small. 11(34), 4237–4266 (2015)
D.J. Roach, C. Roberts, J. Wong, X. Kuang, J. Kovitz, Q. Zhang, T.G. Spence, H.J. Qi, Surface modification of fused filament fabrication (FFF) 3D printed substrates by inkjet printing polyimide for printed electronics. Addit. Manufact. 36, 101544 (2020)
Y. Zhang, G. Shi, J. Qin, S.E. Lowe, S. Zhang, H. Zhao, Y.L. Zhong, Recent progress of direct ink writing of electronic components for advanced wearable devices, ACS Appl. Electron. Mater. 1(9), 1718–1734 (2019)
D.V. Baker, C. Bao, W.S. Kim, Highly conductive 3D printable materials for 3D structural electronics. ACS Appl. Electron. Mater. 3(6), 2423–2433 (2021)
G.L. Goh, H. Zhang, T.H. Chong, W.Y. Yeong, 3D printing of multilayered and multimaterial electronics: a review. Adv. Electron. Mater. (2021). https://doi.org/10.1002/aelm.202100445
Y. Liu, Y. Xu, R. Avila, C. Liu, Z. Xie, L. Wang, X. Yu, 3D printed microstructures for flexible electronic devices. Nanotechnology 30(41), 414001 (2019)
D. Corzo, G. Tostado-Blázquez, D. Baran, Flexible electronics: status, challenges and opportunities. Front. Electron. 1, 594003 (2020)
F. Tricot, C. Venet, D. Beneventi, D. Curtil, D. Chaussy, T.P. Vuong, Broquin and N. Reverdy-Bruas, Ohmic curing of silver micro-particle inks printed on thermoplastics. J. Electron. Mater. 50(11), 6183–6195 (2021)
S. Hong, C. Liu, S. Hao, W. Fu, J. Peng, B. Wu, N. Zheng, Antioxidant high-conductivity copper paste for low-cost flexible printed electronics. Npj Flex. Electron. 6(1), 1–9 (2022)
W. Zhang, Y. Zhou, Y. Ding, L. Song, Q. Yuan, W. Zhao, C. Xu, J. Wei, M. Li, H. Ji, Sintering mechanism of size-controllable Cu–Ag core-shell nanoparticles for flexible conductive film with high conductivity, antioxidation, and electrochemical migration resistance. Appl. Surf. Sci. 586, 152691 (2022)
H. Murthy, N. Thakur, N. Shankhwar, Nickel-based inks for flexible electronics—a review on recent trends. J. Adv. Manufact. Syst. 21(03), 591–624 (2022)
Y.Z.N. Htwe, M. Mariatti, Printed graphene and hybrid conductive inks for flexible, stretchable, and wearable electronics: progress, opportunities, and challenges. J. Sci.: Adv. Mater. Dev. 7(2), 100435 (2022)
J. Dolai, K. Mandal, N.R. Jana, Nanoparticle size effects in biomedical applications, ACS Appl. Nano Mater. 4(7), 6471–6496 (2021)
S. Zhang, X. Xu, T. Lin, P. He, Recent advances in nano-materials for packaging of electronic devices. J. Mater. Sci.: Mater. Electron. 30(15), 13855–13868 (2019)
D. Kim, S. Jeong, J. Moon, Synthesis of silver nanoparticles using the polyol process and the influence of precursor injection. Nanotechnology 17(16), 4019–4024 (2006)
S.W. Song, S. Lee, J.K. Choe, N.H. Kim, J. Kang, A.C. Lee, Y. Choi, A. Choi, Y. Jeong, W. Lee, J.Y. Kim, S. Kwon, J. Kim, Direct 2D-to-3D transformation of pen drawings. Sci. Adv. 7(13), eabf3804 (2021)
J.B. Szczech, C.M. Megaridis, D.R. Gamota, J. Zhang, Fine-line conductor manufacturing using drop-on demand PZT printing technology. IEEE Trans. Electron. Packag Manufact. 25(1), 26–33 (2002)
Y. Hao, J. Gao, Z. Xu, N. Zhang, J. Luo, X. Liu, Preparation of silver nanoparticles with hyperbranched polymers as a stabilizer for inkjet printing of flexible circuits. New. J. Chem. 43(6), 2797–2803 (2019)
M.A.H. Khondoker, S.C. Mun, J. Kim, Synthesis and characterization of conductive silver ink for electrode printing on cellulose film. Appl. Phys. A 112(2), 411–418 (2013)
M.A. Skylar-Scott, J. Mueller, C.W. Visser, J.A. Lewis, Voxelated soft matter via multimaterial multinozzle 3D printing. Nature. 575(7782), 330–335 (2019)
P.R. Couchman, W.A. Jesser, Thermodynamic theory of size dependence of melting temperature in metals. Nature. 269(5628), 481–483 (1977)
S. Jeong, T. Lim, J. Park, C. Han, H. Yang, S. Ju, Pen drawing display. Nat. Commun. 10(1), 4334 (2019)
S. Maity, S. Chakraborty, B.K. Show, S. Bera, Effect of microalloying constituents—a novel approach to ordering phenomenon. J. Alloys Compd. 769, 940–950 (2018)
S. Mustapha, M.M. Ndamitso, A.S. Abdulkareem, J.O. Tijani, D.T. Shuaib, A.K. Mohammed, A. Sumaila, Comparative study of crystallite size using Williamson–Hall and Debye–Scherrer plots for ZnO nanoparticles. Adv. Nat. Sci. Nanosci. Nanotechnol. 10(4), 45013 (2019)
J.M. Zook, M.D. Halter, D. Cleveland, S.E. Long, Disentangling the effects of polymer coatings on silver nanoparticle agglomeration, dissolution, and toxicity to determine mechanisms of nanotoxicity. J. Nanopart. Res. 14(10), 1165 (2012)
M. Behera, S. Ram, Spectroscopy-based study on the interaction between gold nanoparticle and poly(vinylpyrrolidone) molecules in a non-hydrocolloid, Inter. Nano Lett. 3(1), 1–17 (2013)
K.M. Koczkur, S. Mourdikoudis, L. Polavarapu, S.E. Skrabalak, Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) in nanoparticle synthesis. Dalton Trans. 44(41), 17883–17905 (2015)
H. Wang, X. Qiao, J. Chen, X. Wang, S. Ding, Mechanisms of PVP in the preparation of silver nanoparticles. Mater. Chem. Phys. 94(2–3), 449–453 (2005)
A. Mościcki, A. Smolarek-Nowak, J. Felba, A. Kinart, Ink for ink-jet printing of electrically conductive structures on flexible substrates with low thermal resistance. J. Electron. Mater. 46(7), 4100–4108 (2017)
M.A. Rahim, F. Centurion, J. Han, R. Abbasi, M. Mayyas, J. Sun, M.J. Christoe, D. Esrafilzadeh, F.M. Allioux, M.B. Ghasemian, J. Yang, J. Tang, T. Daeneke, S. Mettu, J. Zhang, M.H. Uddin, R. Jalili, Kalantar Zadeh, Polyphenol-induced adhesive liquid metal inks for substrate‐independent direct pen writing. Adv. Funct. Mater. 31(10), 2007336 (2021)
T. Chen, H. Yang, S. Bai, Y. Zhang, X. Guo, Facile preparation of patterned silver electrodes with high conductivity, flatness and adjustable work function by laser direct writing followed by transfer process. Appl. Surf. Sci. 530, 147237 (2020)
Z. Li, H. Liu, C. Ouyang, W. Hong Wee, X. Cui, T. Jian Lu, B. Pingguan-Murphy, F. Li, F. Xu, Recent advances in pen-based writing electronics and their emerging applications. Adv. Funct. Mater. 26(2), 165–180 (2016)
E. Quain, T.S. Mathis, N. Kurra, K. Maleski, K.L. Aken, M. Alhabeb, H.N. Alshareef, Y. Gogotsi, U. UT-Battelle LLC ORNL and S. A. T. C. Energy Frontier research centers EFRC United States fluid interface reactions, direct writing of additive-free MXene‐in‐water ink for electronics and energy storage. Adv. Mater. Technol. 4(1), 1800256 (2019)
R. Li, J. Ji, L. Liu, Z. Wu, D. Ding, X. Yin, Y. Yu, J. Yan, A high-sensitive microwave humidity sensor based on one-step laser direct writing of dielectric silver nanoplates. Sens. Actuators B: Chem. 370, 132455 (2022)
T.V. Neumann, M.D. Dickey, Liquid metal direct write and 3D Printing: a review. Adv. Mater. Technol. 5(9), 2000070 (2020)
D. Soltman, V. Subramanian, Inkjet-printed line morphologies and temperature control of the coffee ring effect. Langmuir 24(5), 2224–2231 (2008)
H. Zhang, S.K. Moon, T.H. Ngo, 3D printed electronics of non-contact ink writing techniques: status and promise. Int. J. Pr Eng. Man. 7(2), 511–524 (2020)
Z. Liu, H. Ji, S. Wang, W. Zhao, Y. Huang, H. Feng, J. Wei, M. Li, Enhanced electrical and mechanical properties of a printed bimodal silver nanoparticle ink for flexible electronics. Phys. Status Slidi A 215(14), 1800007 (2018)
I.E. Stewart, M.J. Kim, B.J. Wiley, Effect of morphology on the electrical resistivity of silver nanostructure films. ACS Appl. Mater. Inter. 9(2), 1870–1876 (2017)
M. Makrygianni, I. Kalpyris, C. Boutopoulos, I. Zergioti, Laser induced forward transfer of Ag nanoparticles ink deposition and characterization. Appl. Surf. Sci. 297, 40–44 (2014)
L. Zhuo, W. Liu, Z. Zhao, E. Yin, C. Li, L. Zhou, Q. Zhang, Y. Feng, S. Lin, Cost-effective silver nano-ink for inkjet printing in application of flexible electronic devices. Chem. Phys. Lett. 757, 137904 (2020)
D. Kim, S. Jeong, B.K. Park, J. Moon, Direct writing of silver conductive patterns: improvement of film morphology and conductance by controlling solvent compositions. Appl. Phys. Lett. 89(26), 264101 (2006)
D.Y. Wang, Y. Chang, Y.X. Wang, Q. Zhang, Z.G. Yang, Green water-based silver nanoplate conductive ink for flexible printed circuit. Mater. Technol. 31(1), 32–37 (2016)
H. Huang, M. Zhou, C. Yin, Q. Chen, X. Zhang, Preparation of a low temperature sintering silver nanoparticle ink and fabrication of conductive patterns on PET substrate (IEEE, Shanghai, 2018), pp.482–485
S.P. Sreenilayam, Ã. McCarthy, L. McKeon, O. Ronan, R. McCann, K. Fleischer, B. Freeland, V. Nicolosi, D. Brabazon, Additive-free silver nanoparticle ink development using flow-based laser ablation synthesis in solution and aerosol jet printing. Chem. Eng. J. 449, 137817 (2022)
S.L. Hsu, Y. Chen, M. Chen, I. Chen, Low sintering temperature nano-silver pastes with high bonding strength by adding silver 2-ethylhexanoate. Mater. 14(20), 5941 (2021)
K. Liu, B. Ouyang, X. Guo, Y. Guo, Y. Liu, Advances in flexible organic field-effect transistors and their applications for flexible electronics. npj Flex. Electron. (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41528-022-00133-3
Funding
The financial support of Xi’an Advanced Manufacturing Technology Project (Grant No. 21XJZZ0048), and Key Research and Development Program of Shaanxi Province (Grant No. 2023-YBGY-467) are acknowledged.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by QW, YF, and WL. The first draft of the manuscript was written by LZ and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. QW, JS, EY, BC, SL, and QZ contributed to the writing—review and editing, with additional contributions to figures from JS, EY, WL, BC, SL, and QZ. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Corresponding authors
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.
Research involving human and animal participants
This research did not contain any studies involving animal or human participants, nor did it take place on any private or protected areas.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Supplementary Information
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Zhuo, L., Wang, Q., Sun, J. et al. Direct pen writing and atomic-scale molecular dynamics simulation study of a novel silver nano-ink. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 34, 2182 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-023-11628-8
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-023-11628-8