Preparation of highly conductive polymer nanocomposites by low temperature sintering of silver nanoparticles

Abstract

Highly conductive polymer nanocomposites with very low resistivity (4.8 × 10⁻⁵ Ω cm) were prepared by thermal sintering of silver nanoparticles with silver flakes dispersed in a polymer matrix at 180 °C. By comparative studies of thermal behavior of Ag nanoparticles, the critical processing temperature required to obtain very low resistivity of polymer nanocomposites has been identified for Ag nanoparticles with different surface properties. The results indicate that the decomposition temperature of surface residues on Ag nanoparticles plays a key role in the sintering of Ag nanoparticles and thus the electrical resistivity of the polymer nanocomposites. Electrical measurements of the polymer nanocomposites showed that morphological changes induced by sintering of Ag nanoparticle with Ag flakes considerably contribute to the reduction of the contact resistance between conductive fillers, increasing the nanocomposite conductivity.