Effect of the different shapes of silver particles in conductive ink on electrical performance and microstructure of the conductive tracks

The electrical performance of the ink-jet printed conductive tracks composed of silver particles was investigated. Three different shapes silver particles were synthesized via chemical reduction method in the presence of poly vinyl pyrrolidone, and then they were used to study the shape influence on the electrical property and thermal stability of the conductive tracks. The resistivity variation and microstructure of the silver conductive tracks was monitored as a function of fillers content using a four-point probe and scanning electron microscopy as well as thermal analysis. In addition, we proposed the possible formation mechanism of conductive tracks with different fillers. It demonstrated that the conductive tracks filled with silver nanorods and nanoparticles could achieve the volume electrical resistivity of ~3.2 × 10−5 Ω cm after sintering at 160 °C for 15 min. Finally, we fabricated highly conductive silver patterns on a glass substrate by ink-jet printing.