Inkjet printing of silver nanowire networks

The development of printed electronics will require the ability to deposit a wide range of nanomaterials using printing techniques. Here we demonstrate the controlled deposition of networks of silver nanowires in well-defined patterns by inkjet printing from an optimized isopropyl alcohol-diethylene glycol dispersion. We find that great care must be taken while producing the ink and during solvent evaporation. The resultant networks have good electrical properties, displaying sheet resistances as low as 8 Ω/□ and conductivities as high as 10(5) S/m. Such optimized performances were achieved for line widths of 1-10 mm and network thicknesses of 0.5-2 μm deposited from ∼10-20 passes while using processing temperatures of no more than 110 °C. Thin networks are semitransparent with dc to optical conductivity ratios of ∼40.