Abstract
Sintering of printed metal nanoparticles can be made not only by conventional heating, but also by, e.g., electrical, microwave, plasma, laser and flash lamp annealing.
We demonstrate sintering by using low-cost incandescent lamps as an
effective way of obtaining highly conductive contacts of two types of
ink-jet printed metal-nanoparticle inks on paper; both alkanethiol
protected gold nanoparticles
and a commercially available silver nanoparticle ink. This low-cost
roll-to-roll compatible sintering process is especially suitable on
paper substrates because of the high diffuse reflectance, relatively
high thermal stability and low thermal conductivity of paper. A volume resistivity of around 10 μΩ cm was achieved of the inkjetted silver nanoparticles within 15 s
of exposure to an IR lamp, which corresponds to a conductivity of
10–20% of that of bulk silver. Too long exposure time and too high
intensity, however, lead to darkening of the paper fibers. Both the
crack formation and the coffee ring effect of the inkjet printed gold
nanoparticles were, furthermore, found to be reduced on paper as
compared to glass or plastic substrates.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 2949-2955 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Thin Solid Films |
Volume | 520 |
Issue number | 7 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2012 |
MoE publication type | A1 Journal article-refereed |
Keywords
- printed electronics
- nanoparticle sintering
- photothermal sintering
- paper substrate
- ink-jet printing
- resistivity