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Updated: Jan 25, 2026

Planar and Three-Dimensional Printing of Conductive Inks
Published on: December 9, 2011
Silver Nanoparticles Based Ink with Moderate Sintering in Flexible and Printed Electronics
Lixin Mo1, Zhenxin Guo2, Li Yang3
1Beijing Engineering Research Center of Printed Electronics, Beijing Institute of Graphic Communication, Beijing 102600, China. molixin@bigc.edu.cn.
Abstract:
Printed electronics on flexible substrates has attracted tremendous research interest research thanks its low cost, large area production capability and environmentally friendly advantages. Optimal characteristics of silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) based inks are crucial for ink rheology, printing, post-print treatment, and performance of the printed electronics devices. In this review, the methods and mechanisms for obtaining Ag NPs based inks that are highly conductive under moderate sintering conditions are summarized. These characteristics are particularly important when printed on temperature sensitive substrates that cannot withstand sintering of high temperature. Strategies to tailor the protective agents capping on the surface of Ag NPs, in order to optimize the sizes and shapes of Ag NPs as well as to modify the substrate surface, are presented. Different (emerging) sintering technologies are also discussed, including photonic sintering, electrical sintering, plasma sintering, microwave sintering, etc. Finally, applications of the Ag NPs based ink in transparent conductive film (TCF), thin film transistor (TFT), biosensor, radio frequency identification (RFID) antenna, stretchable electronics and their perspectives on flexible and printed electronics are presented.
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