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Light welding nanoparticles: from metal colloids to free-standing conductive metallic nanoparticle film

光焊接纳米粒子: 从金属溶胶到自支撑、导电性金属薄膜

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Abstract

Bottom-up assembly of nanostructured thin films could offer an alternative low-cost approach to electronic thin films. However, such solution-processed thin films are often plagued by excessive inter-particle resistance and only exhibit limited current delivering capability. Here, we report a novel approach to fabricate highly conductive free-standing metallic thin film, accomplished by combining interfacial self-assembly of nanoparticles (NPs) and a light welding process. We found that light from a xenon lamp can weld adjacent Ag and Au NPs assembled at the water-air interface, forming a highly interconnected, free-standing metallic thin film structure with excellent electrical transport properties. With such a unique structure, the resultant thin metallic films show not only high flexibility and robustness, but also high conductivity comparable to bulk metallic thin films. Our studies offer a low-cost, room-temperature, and solution-processable approach to highly conductive metallic films. It can significantly impact solution-processable electronic and optoelectronic devices.

摘要

金属薄膜在透明导电极、化学传感器、催化和光电器件等方面具有广泛应用. 发展溶液加工技术可以大幅度降低金属薄膜的制作成本, 灵活地调控其性能, 从而促进其在多方面的应用. 我们发现氙灯光源可以高效地焊接在水-气界面上自组装的金和银纳米粒子薄膜;其焊接程度取决于光照时间和光强度. 最终, 自组装的纳米粒子膜形成一种自支撑、高度交联的网状结构, 并具有和同样厚度的体相金属薄膜相当的导电性. 这一发现将纳米粒子界面自组装技术与光焊接技术相结合, 可以将液相金属溶胶加工成高柔性、鲁棒性和导电性的金属粒子薄膜. 这不仅可以促进金属粒子薄膜自身的应用, 而且可以促进全液相加工的电子和光电器件的发展. 例如, 利用该金属粒子薄膜作为叉指电极的钙钛矿光电探测器展现出了良好的性能.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21673070 and 61528403), the Opened Fund of the Chinese State Key Laboratory on Integrated Optoelectronics (IOSKL2015KF29), and Hunan University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory for Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha, 410082, China

    Fei Chen  (陈菲), Zhenjun Wu  (吴振军), Jiawen Hu  (胡家文) & Xiangfeng Duan  (段镶锋)

  2. School of Physics and Electronics, Hunan University, Changsha, 410082, China

    Shuzhen Yang  (杨抒臻) & Wei Hu  (胡伟)

  3. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, California, 90095, USA

    Xiangfeng Duan  (段镶锋)

Authors
  1. Fei Chen  (陈菲)
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  2. Shuzhen Yang  (杨抒臻)
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  3. Zhenjun Wu  (吴振军)
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  4. Wei Hu  (胡伟)
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  5. Jiawen Hu  (胡家文)
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  6. Xiangfeng Duan  (段镶锋)
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Wei Hu  (胡伟), Jiawen Hu  (胡家文) or Xiangfeng Duan  (段镶锋).

Additional information

Fei Chen is a postgraduate master student of the College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan University. She joined Prof. Hu’s group in 2014 and her current research interests include self-assembly of nanomaterials and nanoporous gold film for electrocatalysis.

Jiawen Hu is a professor of chemistry at the College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan University. He received his PhD degree in physical chemistry from Jilin University in 2002, followed by a period of postdoctoral research at Xiamen University. His research interests include surface-enhanced Raman scattering; synthesis, characterization, and self-assembly of nanomaterials; and capacitive desalination.

Wei Hu was born in 1979. He is a lecturer of Hunan University. He obtained his PhD degree in microelectronics and solid-state electronics from Jilin University in 2007. His research interests mainly focus on synthesis, characterization, and application of semiconducting nanomaterials for opto-electronic devices.

Xiangfeng Duan received the BSc degree in chemistry from the University of Science and Technology of China in 1997, and the MSc degree in chemistry and PhD degree in physical chemistry from Harvard University in 1999 and 2002, respectively. He is currently a professor at the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles. His research interests include nanoscale materials, devices and their applications in future electronics, energy science, and biomedical science.

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Chen, F., Yang, S., Wu, Z. et al. Light welding nanoparticles: from metal colloids to free-standing conductive metallic nanoparticle film. Sci. China Mater. 60, 39–48 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40843-016-5136-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40843-016-5136-6

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