Sharif, Ayesha;
Farid, Nazar;
McGlynn, Peter;
Wang, Mingqing;
Vijayaraghavan, Rajani K;
Jilani, Asim;
Leen, Gabriel;
... O'Connor, Gerard M; + view all
(2023)
Ultrashort laser sintering of printed silver nanoparticles on thin, flexible, and porous substrates.
Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics
, 56
, Article 075102. 10.1088/1361-6463/acb367.
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Abstract
The fabrication of low-cost and mechanically robust flexible electronic patterns has increasingly gained attention due to their growing applications in flexible displays, touch screen panels, medical devices, and solar cells. Such applications require cost-effective deposition of metals in a well-controlled manner potentially using nanoparticles (NPs). The presence of solvent and precursors in NP based inks impacts the electrical conductivity of the printed pattern and a post-processing heating step is typically performed to restore the electrical properties and structure of the material. We report printing with picolitre droplet volumes of silver (Ag) NPs on flexible substrates using an acoustic microdroplet dispenser. The low-cost, controlled deposition of Ag ink is performed at room temperature on photopaper, polyimide and clear polyimide substrates. A localized, ultrashort pulsed laser with minimal heat affected zone is employed to sinter printed Ag patterns. For comparison, oven sintering is performed, and the results are analysed with scanning electron microscopy, four-point probe and Hall measurements. The femtosecond laser sintering revealed highly organized, connected nanostructure that is not achievable with oven heating. A significant decrease in sheet resistance, up to 93% in Ag NPs on clear polyimide confirms the laser sintering improves the connectivity of the printed film and as a result, the electrical properties are enhanced. The surface morphology attained by the laser sintering process is interpreted to be due to a joining of NPs as a result of a solid-state diffusion process in the near surface region of NPs.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Ultrashort laser sintering of printed silver nanoparticles on thin, flexible, and porous substrates |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1088/1361-6463/acb367 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6463/acb367 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third-party material in this article are included in the Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > MAPS Faculty Office UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > MAPS Faculty Office > Institute for Materials Discovery |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10164246 |
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