Sacrificial ligand route to hybrid polythiophene–silver nanoparticles for sinter-free conductive inks. Issue 5 (2nd February 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Drzic, Juraj; Escudero, Alberto; González-García, Lola; Kraus, Tobias
• Is Part Of: Inorganic chemistry frontiers. Volume 10:Issue 5(2023)
• Page Start: 1552
• Page End: 1560
• Publication Date: 2023-02-02
• Subjects: Chemistry, Inorganic -- Periodicals; 546.05
• DOI: 10.1039/d2qi02722d
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2052-1553

Abstract

Abstract : The synthesis of hybrid silver nanoparticles consisting of silver cores and polythiophene shells is reported. Such hybrid particles can be used to formulate sinter-free inks for printing electronics. Abstract : We report the synthesis of AgNP@PEDOT:PSS hybrid conductive particles with silver cores and polythiophene shells that can be used to formulate sinter-free inks for printing electronics. First, Ag nanocrystals capped with the weakly bound ligand aminohexanoic acid (ε-Ahx) are prepared. The ligand shell is exchanged by reacting the dispersion with the polymer ionomer mixture poly(3, 4-ethylene dioxythiophene):polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS). The particles are characterized by electron microscopy, dynamic light scattering, Z potential, and Raman spectroscopy, confirming the replacement of the ligands on the metal particle surface. The resulting dispersion is colloidally stable as confirmed by DLS. Inks with a solid content of the hybrid particles of 300 mg mL −1 were prepared and deposited on different substrates. The new particles are components for hybrid inks that become electrically conductive without any chemical or thermal post-deposition treatment. We show that silver-based hybrid inks can be deposited on different substrates and possess an average conductivity after 24 h of drying at room temperature of 1.726 × 10 6 S m −1 ± 0.326 × 10 6 S m −1, only one order of magnitude lower than elemental silver and within the same order of magnitude as their gold ink counterpart.