The influence of paper coating content on room temperature sintering of silver nanoparticle ink

The resistance of inkjet printed lines using a silver nanoparticle based ink can be very dependent on the substrate. A very large difference in resistivity was observed for tracks printed on paper substrates with aluminum oxide based coatings compared to silica based coatings. Silica based coatings are often cationized with polymers using chloride as a counter ion. It is suggested that the precipitation of silver salts is the cause of the high resistivity, since papers pretreated with salt solutions containing ions that precipitate silver salts gave a high resistance. Silver nitrate has a high solubility and paper pretreated with nitrate ions gave a low resistivity without sintering. The results obtained show that, by choosing the correct type of paper substrate, it is possible to manufacture printed structures, such as interconnects on paper, without the need for, or at least to reduce the need for, post-print sintering. This phenomenon is, of course, ink specific. Inks without or with a low silver ion content are not expected to behave in this manner. In some sensor applications, a high resistivity is desired and, by using the correct combination of ink and paper, these types of sensors can be facilitated.