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Copper has received considerable attention for conductive nanocomposites as an alternative to costly silver or gold. However, practical application has been impeded by its susceptibility to oxidation in air. Here we report a novel scalable synthesis method of non-oxidized copper nanoparticles (InSituCuNPs) by pre-mixing and in-situ reducing copper formate-(butylamine-octylamine) complex inside soft epoxy matrix. The solid–liquid phase change of the copper formate complex, during the nanocomposite spark-plasma-sintering process, promotes uniform dispersion. Even the outermost atoms of InSituCuNPs are not oxidized since they are surrounded by the thick matrix polymer as soon as in-situ reduced into metallic copper, resulting in high electrical (15,048 Scm−1) and thermal (28.4 Wm−1K−1) conductivities of the nanocomposite. Furthermore, a small addition of 1-dimensional carbon nanotubes decorated with 0-dimensional copper nanoparticles ( more...

The dependence of the electrical resistance on materials’ geometry determines the performance of conductive nanocomposites. Here, we report the invariable resistance of a conductive nanocomposite over 30% strain. This is enabled by the in situ–generated hierarchically structured silver nanosatellite particles, realizing a short interparticle distance (4.37 nm) in a stretchable silicone rubber matrix. Furthermore, the barrier height is tuned to be negligible by matching the electron affinity of silicone rubber to the work function of silver. The stretching results in the electron flow without additional scattering in the silicone rubber matrix. The transport is changed to quantum tunneling if the barrier height is gradually increased by using different matrix polymers with smaller electron affinities, such as ethyl vinyl acetates and thermoplastic polyurethane. The tunneling current decreases with increasing strain, which is accurately described by the Simmons approximation theory. The tunable transport in nanocomposites provides an advancement in the design of stretchable conductors. more...

Copper (Cu) nanoparticles (NPs) have received extensive interest owing to their advantageous properties compared with their bulk counterparts. Although the natural oxidation of Cu NPs can be alleviated by passivating the surfaces with additional moieties, obtaining non-oxidized bare Cu NPs in air remains challenging. Here we report that bare Cu NPs with surface excess electrons retain their non-oxidized state over several months in ambient air. Cu NPs grown on an electride support with excellent electron transfer ability are encapsulated by the surface-accumulated excess electrons, exhibiting an ultralow work function of ~3.2 eV. Atomic-scale structural and chemical analyses confirm the absence of Cu oxide moiety at the outermost surface of air-exposed bare Cu NPs. Theoretical energetics clarify that the surface-accumulated excess electrons suppress the oxygen adsorption and consequently prohibit the infiltration of oxygen into the Cu lattice, provoking the endothermic reaction for oxidation process. Our results will further stimulate the practical use of metal NPs in versatile applications. more...

Silver has long been employed as an electrically conductive component, and morphology-dependent properties have been actively investigated. Here we present a novel scalable synthesis method of flower-shaped silver nanoparticles (silver nanoflowers, Ag NFs). The preferential affinity of citrate molecules on (111) surface of silver enabled spontaneous anisotropic growth of Ag NFs (bud size: 250~580 nm, single crystalline petal thickness: 9~22 nm) with high reproducibility and a high yield of >99.5%. The unique hierarchical structure resulted in coalescence of petals over 80~120 °C which was practically employed in conductive inks to construct percolation pathways among Ag NFs. The ink with only 3 wt% of Ag NFs provided two orders of magnitude greater conductivity (1.008 × 105 Scm−1), at a low curing temperature of 120 °C, compared with the silver nanoparticle ink with a much higher silver concentration (50 wt%). This extraordinary property may provide an excellent opportunity for Ag NFs for practical applications in printable and flexible electronics. more...

Silver nanowires have attracted much attention for use in flexible transparent conductive films (TCFs) due to their low sheet resistance and flexibility. However, the haze was too high for replacing indium-tin-oxide in high-quality display devices. Herein, we report flexible TCFs, which were prepared using a scalable bar-coating method, with a low sheet resistance (24.1 Ω/sq at 96.4% transmittance) and a haze (1.04%) that is comparable to that of indium-tin-oxide TCFs. To decrease the haze and maintain a low sheet resistance, small diameter silver nanowires (~20 nm) were functionalized with low-temperature surface-sintering silver nanoparticles (~5 nm) using bifunctional cysteamine. The silver nanowire-nanoparticle ink stability was excellent. The sheet resistance of the TCFs was decreased by 29.5% (from 34.2 to 24.1 Ω/sq) due to the functionalization at a low curing temperature of 85 °C. The TCFs were highly flexible and maintained their stability for more than 2 months and 10,000 bending cycles after coating with a protective layer. more...