Inkjet printing of nanosized silver colloids

A water-based conducting ink, composed of well dispersed nano-silver particles, has been successfully inkjet printed using an ordinary commercial printer. The silver colloids with diameter around 50 nm were dispersed in a water and diethylene glycol cosolvent system. The 25 wt% silver ink had a viscosity of about 7.4 cP and surface tension of 33.5 dyn cm^-1 at 20 °C, which is appropriate for printing jobs. Continuous and smooth lines of 130 µm width could be printed on ordinary glass substrates using an Epson R210 printer. After baking at 260 °C for 3 min, these lines exhibited a resistivity of 1.6 × 10^-5 Ω cm, which could serve as conducting lines for electronic applications.