Abstract
Inkjet printing conductive ink was prepared with the as-prepared silver nanoparticles as conductive fillers and deionized water as the solvent and leveling agent (MY-3000) and silicone defoamer (NXZ) and wetting agent (TRITONX-405) and moisturizer (glycerol) as functional additives. We investigated the effects of viscosity and surface tension of conductive ink and the inkjet print parameters including number of nozzle, print speed, and ink droplet spacing on inkjet printability of conductive ink. The research results show that the inks with the viscosity range of 2.8–9.1 mPa·s and the surface tension of 33.4 mN·m−1 are suitable for inkjet printing. The printing accuracy of the print pattern is related to the number of nozzles and droplet space and the printing layer, but not to the printing speed, but can be changed appropriately to improve the print efficiency. When the mass content of silver nanoparticles is 6.91 wt%, the sheet resistance of the printing pattern with four layers is 2.71 Ω·cm−1, which is in appropriate printing conditions of the inkjet printing voltage of 21 V, printing speed of 60 m· S−1, ink droplet space of 20 μm, and nozzles of 2. The systematic studies of printability and electrical conductivity of inkjet printing silver nanoparticles conductive ink prove the feasibility of the ink and provide some ideas for future applications.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
H. Zhang, S.K. Moon, T.H. Ngo, 3D printed electronics of non-contact ink writing techniques: status and promise. Int. J. Precis. Eng. Manuf.-Green Technol. 7(2), 511–524 (2019)
S. Hales, E. Tokita, R. Neupane, U. Ghosh, B. Elder, D. Wirthlin, Y.L. Kong, 3D printed nanomaterial-based electronic, biomedical, and bioelectronic devices. Nanotechnology 31(17), 172001 (2020)
M.G. Mohammed, R. Kramer, All-printed flexible and stretchable electronics. Adv. Mater. 29(19), 1604965.1-1604965.7 (2017)
M. Aller-Pellitero, S. Santiago-Malagón, J. Ruiz, Y. Alonso, B. Lakard, J.-Y. Hihn, G. Guirado, F.J. del Campo, Fully-printed and silicon free self-powered electrochromic biosensors: towards naked eye quantification. Sens. Actuators B 306, 127535 (2020)
J. Doggart, Y. Wu, P. Liu, S. Zhu, Facile inkjet-printing self-aligned electrodes for organic thin-film transistor arrays with small and uniform channel length. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces. 2(8), 2189–2192 (2010)
T.M. Eggenhuisen, Y. Galagan, A.F.K.V. Biezemans, T.M.W.L. Slaats, W.P. Voorthuijzen, S. Kommeren, S. Shanmugam, J.P. Teunissen, A. Hadipour, W.J.H. Verhees, S.C. Veenstra, M.J.J. Coenen, J. Gilot, R. Andriessen, W. Groen, A high efficiency, fully inkjet printed organic solar cells with freedom of design. J. Mater. Chem. 3(4), 7255–7262 (2015)
R. Mikkonen, P. Puistola, I. Jönkkäri, M. Mäntysalo, Inkjet printable polydimethylsiloxane for all-inkjet-printed multilayered soft electrical applications. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 12(10), 11990–11997 (2020)
T. Beduk, E. Bihar, S.G. Surya, N.A. Castillo, S. Inal, K.N. Salama, A paper-based inkjet-printed PEDOT:PSS/ZnO sol-gel hydrazine sensor. Sens. Actuators B 306, 1–33 (2020)
H. Souri, D. Bhattacharyya, Highly sensitive, stretchable and wearable strain sensors using fragmented conductive cotton fabric. J. Mater. Chem. C 6(39), 10524–10531 (2018)
J.S. Chang, A.F. Facchetti, R. Reuss, A circuits and systems perspective of organic/printed electronics: review, challenges, and contemporary and emerging design approaches. IEEE J. Emerg. Sel. Top. Circuits Syst. 7(1), 7–26 (2017)
Y. Yu, X. Xiao, Y. Zhang, K. Li, C. Yan, X. Wei, L. Chen, H. Zhen, H. Zhou, S. Zhang, Z. Zheng, Photoreactive and metal-platable copolymer inks for high-throughput, room-temperature printing of flexible metal electrodes for thin-film electronics. Adv. Mater. 28(24), 4926–4934 (2016)
S. Conti, S. Lai, P. Cosseddu, A. Bonfiglio, An inkjet-printed, ultralow voltage, flexible organic field effect transistor. Adv. Mater. Technol. 2(2), 1600212 (2017)
A. Sharif, J. Ouyang, A. Raza, M.A. Imran, Q.H. Abbasi, Inkjet-printed UHF RFID tag based system for salinity and sugar detection. Microw. Opt. Technol. Lett. 61(9), 2161–2168 (2019)
H.A. Andersson, A. Manuilskiy, S. Haller, M. Hummelgård, J. Sidén, C. Hummelgård, H. Olin, H.-E. Nilsson, Assembling surface mounted components on ink-jet printed double sided paper circuit board. Nanotechnology 25(9), 094002 (2014)
H.G. Im, S.H. Jung, J. Jin, D. Lee, J. Lee, D. Lee, J.-Y. Lee, I.-D. Kim, B.-S. Bae, Flexible transparent conducting hybrid film using a surface-embedded copper nanowire network: a highly oxidation-resistant copper nanowire electrode for flexible optoelectronics. ACS Nano 8(10), 10973–10979 (2014)
I.J. Fernandes, A.F. Aroche, A. Schuck, P. Lamberty, C.R. Peter, W. Hasenkamp, T.L.A.C. Rocha, Silver nanoparticle conductive inks: synthesis, characterization, and fabrication of inkjet-printed flexible electrodes. Sci. Rep. 10(1), 1–11 (2020)
D. Mitra, K. Mitra, V. Dzhagan, N. Pillai, D. Zahn, R. Baumann, Work function and conductivity of inkjet-printed silver layers: effect of inks and post-treatments. J. Electron. Mater. 37(3), 2135–2142 (2018)
N. Reis, B. Derby, Ink jet deposition of ceramic suspensions: modeling and experiments of droplet formation. MRS Online Proc. Libr. Arch. 625, 65 (2000)
M.M. Laurila, B. Khorramdel, A. Dastpak, M. Mntysalo, Statistical analysis of E-jet print parameter effects on Ag-nanoparticle ink droplet size. J. Micromech. Microeng. 27(9), 095005 (2017)
Y. Gao, W. Shi, W. Wang, Y. Leng, Y. Zhao, Inkjet printing patterns of highly conductive pristine graphene on flexible substrates. Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 53(43), 16777–16784 (2014)
J.A. Lim, W.H. Lee, H.S. Lee, J.H. Lee, Y.D. Park, K. Cho, Self-organization of ink-jet-printed triisopropylsilylethynyl pentacene via evaporation-induced flows in a drying droplet. Adv. Funct. Mater 18(2), 229–234 (2008)
L. Nayak, S. Mohanty, S.K. Nayak, A. Ramadoss, A review on inkjet printing of nanoparticle inks for flexible electronics. J. Mater. Chem. C 7(29), 8771–8795 (2019)
J. Perelaer, J. Perelaer, P.J. Smith, M.M.P. Wijnen, E. van den Bosch, R. Echardt, P.H.J.M. Ketelaars, U.S. Schubrt, The spreading of inkjet-printed droplets with varying polymer molar mass on a dry solid substratery solid substrate. Macromol. Chem. Phys. 210, 495–502 (2009)
B. Derby, Inkjet printing of functional and structural materials: fluid property requirements, feature stability, and resolution. Ann. Rev. Mater. Res. 40, 395–414 (2010)
B. Derby, Inkjet printing of functional and structural materials: fluid property requirements, feature stability, and resolution. Annu. Rev. Mater. Res. 40, 395–414 (2010)
H.K. Huh, S. Jung, K.W. Seo et al., Role of polymer concentration and molecular weight on the rebounding behaviors of polymer solution droplet impacting on hydrophobic surfaces. Microfluid. Nanofluid. 18(5–6), 1221–1232 (2014)
K. Woo, D. Jang, Y. Kim, J. Moon, Relationship between printability and rheological behavior of ink-jet conductive inks. Ceram. Int. 39, 7015–7021 (2013)
B.-J. de Gans, E. Kazancioglu, W. Meyer, U.S. Schubert, Ink-jet printing polymers and polymer libraries using micropipettes. Macromol. Rapid Commun. 25, 292–296 (2004)
D. Kim, S. Jeong, H. Shin, Y. Xia, J. Moon, Heterogeneous interfacial properties of ink-jet-printed silver nanoparticulate electrode and organic semiconductor. Adv. Mater. 20(16), 3084–3089 (2008)
M.J. Ha, Y. Xia, A.A. Green, M.J. Renn, C.H. Kim, M.C. Hersam, C.D. Frisbie, Printed sub-3V digital circuits on plastic from aqueous carbon nanotube inks. ACS Nano 4(8), 4388–4395 (2010)
L. Huang, Y. Huang, J. Liang, X. Wan, Y. Chen, Graphene-based conducting inks for direct inkjet printing of flexible conductive patterns and their applications in electric circuits and chemical sensors. Nano Res. 4(7), 675–684 (2011)
S.Y. Chen, Y. Li, R. Jin, Y.W. Guan, H.T. Ni, Q.H. Wan, L. Li, A systematic and effective research procedure for silver nanowire ink. J. Alloy. Compd. 706, 164–175 (2017)
P. He, B. Derby, Highly conductive graphene electronics by inkjet printing. Adv. Mater. Interfaces 49(3), 1765–1776 (2020)
Y. Zhang, T. Ren, J. He, Inkjet printing enabled controllable paper superhydrophobization and its applications. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces. 10(13), 11343–11349 (2018)
M. Singh, H.M. Haverinen, P. Dhagat, G.E. Jabbour, Inkjet printing-process and its applications. Adv. Mater. 22(6), 673–685 (2010)
A. Moscicki, J.F. Smolarek-Nowak et al., Ink for ink-jet printing of electrically conductive structures on flexible substrates with low thermal resistance. J. Electron. Mater. 46(7), 4100–4108 (2017)
D. Reichl, G. Lager, B. Englmair, M.P. Zettl, Selective laser sintering of conductive inks for inkjet printing based on nanoparticle compositions with organic silver salts. Ussian Phys. J. 60(10), 1674–1679 (2018)
Y. Z. Zhao, D. X. Du, Y. H. Wang (2019) Preparation of silver nanoparticles and application in water-based conductive inks. Int. J. Mod. Phys. B 33(32): 1950385 (1–14)
Acknowledgements
This work was financially supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grants of (61671140) and Zhongshan Science and Technology Projects (2018SYF10, 2019B2016).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wang, Y.H., Du, D.X., Xie, H. et al. Printability and electrical conductivity of silver nanoparticle-based conductive inks for inkjet printing. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 32, 496–508 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-020-04828-z
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-020-04828-z