Room temperature fabrication and patterning of highly conductive silver features using in situ reactive inks by microreactor-assisted printing

Abstract

Highly conductive silver was fabricated at room temperature using in situ reactive silver precursor inks by microreactor-assisted printing without any post-processing. Reactive silver nanoinks, synthesized in situ from the microreactor, were directly delivered onto glass and polymeric substrates without any surface treatment to form a highly dense and uniform silver feature. The distribution of the reactive silver nanoinks can be controlled simply by adjusting the flow rate of the continuous flow system. Silver lines were fabricated using the in situ reactive precursors delivered via a micro-channel applicator. The electrical conductivity of the silver film and feature were measured to be around 3.3 × 10⁷ (S m⁻¹), corresponding to about half of the conductivity of bulk silver. The functionality of the silver line was confirmed through the operation of LEDs. This study demonstrates the possibility to fabricate patterned silver features at room temperature from in situ nanoinks without the aid of any post-processing.