Abstract
Printable silver inks are increasingly used in various electronic devices due to their versatility and applicability. However, silver nanoparticle-based conductive inks can cause blockage of inkjet printer nozzles due to aggregation and settlement. In the present study, the properties of printed silver conductive inks (AgNPs) produced by a conventional method and in-situ method are compared. The effect of the number of printing layers and morphology of printed tracks fabricated by both methods was investigated. The results of energy-dispersive X-ray and X-ray diffraction analyses showed that the conventional method produced high-purity AgNPs compared to the in-situ synthesis method. Likewise, the conventional synthesis method exhibited 85% higher electrical conductivity than the in-situ synthesis method at 1 printing layer. However, comparable electrical conductivity was observed for 8 printed layers for both methods. In short, the in-situ method has the potential to produce conductive AgNPs patterns, although a high number of printed layers are required to increase the conductive path. This method may solve the issues of particle agglomeration and sedimentation, which can block the nozzle during the printing process.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Beedasy V, Smith PJ (2020) Printed electronics as prepared by inkjet printing. Materials 13(3):704
Bouafia A et al (2021) The recent progress on silver nanoparticles: synthesis and electronic applications. Nanomaterials 11(9):2318
Rao CH et al (2022) A review on printed electronics with digital 3D printing: fabrication techniques, materials, challenges and future opportunities. J Electron Mater 51(6):2747–2765
Mo L et al (2019) Nano-silver ink of high conductivity and low sintering temperature for paper electronics. Nanoscale Res Lett 14(1):197
Wiklund J et al (2021) A review on printed electronics: fabrication methods, inks, substrates, applications and environmental impacts. J Manuf Mater Process 5(3):89
Zope KR, Cormier D, Williams SA (2018) Reactive silver oxalate ink composition with enhanced curing conditions for flexible substrates. ACS Appl Mater Interf 10(4):3830–3837
Fernandes IJ et al (2020) Silver nanoparticle conductive inks: synthesis, characterization, and fabrication of inkjet-printed flexible electrodes. Sci Rep 10(1):1–11
Kumar SK, Chen P-Y, Ren H (2019) A review of printable flexible and stretchable tactile sensors. Research. https://spj.science.org/doi/abs/10.34133/2019/3018568
Yaqoob AA, Umar K, Ibrahim MNM (2020) Silver nanoparticles: various methods of synthesis, size affecting factors and their potential applications–a review. Appl Nanosci 10(5):1369–1378
Hong GB et al (2022) Facile synthesis of silver nanoparticles and preparation of conductive ink. Nanomaterials 12(1):171
Chang C-W, Cheng T-Y, Liao Y-C (2018) Encapsulated silver nanoparticles in water/oil emulsion for conductive inks. J Taiwan Inst Chem Eng 92:8–14
Htwe Y, Abdullah M, Mariatti M (2022) Water-based graphene/AgNPs hybrid conductive inks for flexible electronic applications. J Market Res 16:59–73
Wang D-Y et al (2016) Green water-based silver nanoplate conductive ink for flexible printed circuit. Mater Technol 31(1):32–37
Zhao C, Wang J, Lu L (2022) Preparation and application of water-based nano-silver conductive ink in paper-based 3D printing. Rapid Prototyping Journal 28(4):747–755
Zhao Y, Du D, Wang Y (2019) Preparation of silver nanoparticles and application in water-based conductive inks. Int J Mod Phys B 33(32):1950385
Bidoki S et al (2007) Ink-jet fabrication of electronic components. J Micromech Microeng 17(5):967
Wang Y et al (2019) Reactive conductive ink capable of in situ and rapid synthesis of conductive patterns suitable for inkjet printing. Molecules 24(19):3548
Vaseem M, McKerricher G, Shamim A (2015) Robust design of a particle-free silver-organo-complex ink with high conductivity and inkjet stability for flexible electronics. ACS Appl Mater Interf 8(1):177–186
Deng D et al (2017) In situ preparation of silver nanoparticles decorated graphene conductive ink for inkjet printing. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 28(20):15411–15417
Serrano-Claumarchirant JF et al (2022) In situ synthesis of polythiophene and silver nanoparticles within a PMMA matrix: a nanocomposite approach to thermoelectrics. ACS Appl Energy Mater 5(9):11067–11076
Ibrahim N et al (2023) Stability and conductivity of water-based colloidal silver nanoparticles conductive inks for sustainable printed electronics. J Taiwan Inst Chem Eng 153:105202
Shen W et al (2014) Preparation of solid silver nanoparticles for inkjet printed flexible electronics with high conductivity. Nanoscale 6(3):1622–1628
Wu Y et al (2019) Fabrication of cotton fabrics with durable antibacterial activities finishing by Ag nanoparticles. Text Res J 89(5):867–880
Irfan MI et al (2022) Novel carboxylic acid-capped silver nanoparticles as antimicrobial and colorimetric sensing agents. Molecules 27(11):3363
Gutierrez L et al (2015) Citrate-coated silver nanoparticles interactions with effluent organic matter: influence of capping agent and solution conditions. Langmuir 31(32):8865–8872
Suriati G, Mariatti M, Azizan A (2014) Synthesis of silver nanoparticles by chemical reduction method: effect of reducing agent and surfactant concentration. Int J Automotive Mech Eng 10:1920
Dhand C et al (2015) Methods and strategies for the synthesis of diverse nanoparticles and their applications: a comprehensive overview. RSC Adv 5(127):105003–105037
Mehta BK, Chhajlani M, Shrivastava BD (2017) Green synthesis of silver nanoparticles and their characterization by XRD. In Journal of physics: conference series, vol 836, no 1. IOP Publishing, p 012050
Du P et al (2022) Preparation and shape change of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) loaded on the dialdehyde cellulose by in-situ synthesis method. Cellulose 29(12):6831–6843
Zhang J et al (2022) Silver nanoparticles for conductive inks: from synthesis and ink formulation to their use in printing technologies. Metals 12(2):234
Fu L-M et al (2021) Process optimization of silver nanoparticle synthesis and its application in mercury detection. Micromachines 12(9):1123
Dong Y et al (2016) Optimizing formulations of silver organic decomposition ink for producing highly-conductive features on flexible substrates: the case study of amines. Thin Solid Films 616:635–642
Htwe Y, Mariatti M (2021) Surfactant-assisted water-based graphene conductive inks for flexible electronic applications. J Taiwan Inst Chem Eng 125:402–412
Choi H-J et al (2019) Electrical percolation threshold of carbon black in a polymer matrix and its application to antistatic fibre. Sci Rep 9(1):6338
Gu W et al (2018) Fast near infrared sintering of silver nanoparticle ink and applications for flexible hybrid circuits. RSC Adv 8(53):30215–30222
Zhou W et al (2015) Sintering kinetics of inkjet-printed conductive silver lines on insulating plastic substrate. Metall Mater Trans B 46:1542–1547
Cao L et al (2017) The preparation of Ag nanoparticle and ink used for inkjet printing of paper based conductive patterns. Materials 10(9):1004
Cai Y et al (2017) Large-scale and facile synthesis of silver nanoparticles via a microwave method for a conductive pen. RSC Adv 7(54):34041–34048
Ivanišević I et al (2019) Combined chemical and thermal sintering for high conductivity inkjet-printed silver nanoink on flexible substrates. Chem Biochem Eng Q 33(3):377–384
Hussain A, Lee HL, Moon SJ (2022) Sintering of silver nanoparticle structures and the pursuit of minimum resistivity. Mater Today Commun 34:105159
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the technical support and facilities from the School of Materials and Mineral Resources Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare no competing interests.
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
Ibrahim, N., Jaafar, M. Advancements in silver conductive inks: comparative evaluation of conventional and in-situ synthesis techniques. J Nanopart Res 26, 17 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-024-05929-0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-024-05929-0