High-resolution inkjet printing of electrically conducting lines of silver nanoparticles by edge-enhanced twin-line deposition
- 27 May 2013
- journal article
- research article
- Published by AIP Publishing in Applied Physics Letters
- Vol. 102 (21), 214101
- https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4807782
Abstract
We report a process for inkjet printing electrically continuous micron-wide lines of silver nanoparticles by exploiting edge-enhanced evaporation commonly associated with the coffee-stain effect. In situ and real-time flow observation confirmed preferential nanoparticle deposition at the contact line of printed rivulets. The resulting twin-pair of parallel continuous lines showed characteristic width (2–8 μm), height (100–300 nm), and pair spacing (100–600 μm) that depended on substrate and printing conditions in a theoretically predictable way. Thermally sintered lines were used to form rectilinear grids showing ∼5 Ω/◻ effective sheet resistance. The robustness of the deposition process was investigated, and line pathologies were found to depend on substrate surface wettability.Keywords
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