skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: A Water-Based Silver-Nanowire Screen-Print Ink for the Fabrication of Stretchable Conductors and Wearable Thin-Film Transistors

Journal Article · · Advanced Materials
 [1];  [1];  [1]
  1. Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States). Henry Samuli School of Engineering and Applied Science and Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering

Silver nanowire is a very promising material for fabricating compliant conductors which are essential for stretchable/wearable electronic devices. Screen printing is a cost-effective and scalable technology to fabricate large-area thin film coatings with modest pattern resolution. The biggest challenge to prepare a screen printable silver nanowire ink stems from the low viscosity of silver nanowire dispersions and that the addition of a thickening agent could dramatically increase the inter-nanowire contact resistance in the resulting coating. Herein, we report the synthesis of a water-based silver nanowire ink, which was formulated with low solid contents, high viscosity at 0.1 s-1 shear rate, and appropriate rheological behavior suitable for screen printing. Silver nanowire coating patterns were screen printed with uniform sharp edges, ~50 μm resolution, and electrical conductivity as high as 4.67 × 104 S cm-1. The screen printed silver nanowires were then used to fabricate a composite conductor that retained a conductivity greater than 10,000 S cm-1 under 70% tensile strain. Fully printed and stretchable/wearable thin-film transistor arrays were also fabricated by employing the screen printed composite conductor as the source, drain, and gate, drop cast semiconducting carbon nanotubes as the channel, and a dielectric elastomer. The 10 × 6 thin-film transistor arrays had a fabrication yield of 91.7%, average mobility of 33.8 ± 3.7 cm2V-1s-1, ON/OFF ratio ~1000, and remained stable during 1,000 cycles of wearing on and peeling off a glass tube with 5 mm diameter.

Research Organization:
Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
Grant/Contract Number:
EE0006674; FA9550‐12‐1‐0074
OSTI ID:
1429112
Journal Information:
Advanced Materials, Vol. 28, Issue 28; ISSN 0935-9648
Publisher:
WileyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 372 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (42)

A complete process for production of flexible large area polymer solar cells entirely using screen printing—First public demonstration journal April 2009
Highly stretchable electric circuits from a composite material of silver nanoparticles and elastomeric fibres journal November 2012
Preparation and influence of highly concentrated screen-printing inks on the development and characteristics of thick-film varistors journal October 2015
Synthesis and Characterization of Silver Nanowire Suspensions for Printable Conductive Media journal January 2015
Wafer-Scale Fabrication of Separated Carbon Nanotube Thin-Film Transistors for Display Applications journal December 2009
Omnidirectional Printing of Flexible, Stretchable, and Spanning Silver Microelectrodes journal March 2009
Conductivity of silver paste prepared from nanoparticles journal February 2008
Silver Nanowire Percolation Network Soldered with Graphene Oxide at Room Temperature and Its Application for Fully Stretchable Polymer Light-Emitting Diodes journal January 2014
Formulation and screen printing of water based conductive flake silver pastes onto green ceramic tapes for electronic applications journal August 2012
Stretchable nanoparticle conductors with self-organized conductive pathways journal July 2013
Large-Scale Precise Printing of Ultrathin Sol-Gel Oxide Dielectrics for Directly Patterned Solution-Processed Metal Oxide Transistor Arrays journal July 2015
Elastomeric polymer light-emitting devices and displays journal September 2013
Inkjet printing of single-crystal films journal July 2011
Inkjet-Printed Graphene Electronics journal March 2012
Knitted Fabrics Made from Highly Conductive Stretchable Fibers journal March 2014
Rheological characterisation and printing performance of Sn/Ag/Cu solder pastes journal October 2009
Inkjet Printing-Process and Its Applications journal February 2010
Silver Nanowire Networks as Flexible, Transparent, Conducting Films: Extremely High DC to Optical Conductivity Ratios journal June 2009
Intrinsically stretchable and transparent thin-film transistors based on printable silver nanowires, carbon nanotubes and an elastomeric dielectric journal July 2015
Highly Stretchable and Highly Conductive Metal Electrode by Very Long Metal Nanowire Percolation Network journal May 2012
Printable and Stretchable Conductive Wirings Comprising Silver Flakes and Elastomers journal October 2011
Fully-printed high-performance organic thin-film transistors and circuitry on one-micron-thick polymer films journal June 2014
Printable All-Organic Electrochromic Active-Matrix Displays journal August 2007
Screen printing of silver nanoparticle suspension for metal interconnects journal November 2008
Crystalline Silver Nanowires by Soft Solution Processing journal February 2002
Printable elastic conductors with a high conductivity for electronic textile applications journal June 2015
Solution-Processed Metal Nanowire Mesh Transparent Electrodes journal February 2008
A review of fabrication and applications of carbon nanotube film-based flexible electronics journal January 2013
Fully Printed Separated Carbon Nanotube Thin Film Transistor Circuits and Its Application in Organic Light Emitting Diode Control journal December 2011
Application of Screen Printing in the Fabrication of Organic Light-Emitting Devices journal September 2000
Rheological characterisation of solder pastes and isotropic conductive adhesives used for flip-chip assembly journal April 2009
All-Printed Carbon Nanotube finFETs on Plastic Substrates for High-Performance Flexible Electronics journal December 2011
Fully Printed, High Performance Carbon Nanotube Thin-Film Transistors on Flexible Substrates journal July 2013
The characterization of electrically conductive silver ink patterns on flexible substrates journal July 2009
High-Resolution Patterning of Graphene by Screen Printing with a Silicon Stencil for Highly Flexible Printed Electronics journal November 2014
Stretchable active-matrix organic light-emitting diode display using printable elastic conductors journal May 2009
Screen-printed passive matrix displays based on light-emitting polymers journal June 2001
Efficient Welding of Silver Nanowire Networks without Post-Processing journal April 2013
Highly conductive, printable and stretchable composite films of carbon nanotubes and silver journal November 2010
Silver content effect on rheological and electrical properties of silver pastes journal December 2011
Preparation of micron size flake silver powders for conductive thick films journal September 2006
Inkjet-printed graphene electronics. text January 2012

Cited By (99)

Mechanically Flexible Conductors for Stretchable and Wearable E‐Skin and E‐Textile Devices journal May 2019
Multigram Synthesis of Cu-Ag Core-Shell Nanowires Enables the Production of a Highly Conductive Polymer Filament for 3D Printing Electronics journal January 2018
Flexible graphene composites with high thermal conductivity as efficient heat sinks in high-power LEDs journal October 2018
Effect of the basic surface properties of woven lining fabric on printing precision and electrical performance of screen-printed conductive lines journal November 2019
Simple silver nanowire patterning using a DUV lamp direct write with sol–gel IZO capping journal January 2017
3D‐Printed Stretchable Micro‐Supercapacitor with Remarkable Areal Performance journal January 2020
Review on flexible photonics/electronics integrated devices and fabrication strategy journal May 2018
Optimization of Geometry Parameters of Inkjet-Printed Silver Nanoparticle Traces on PDMS Substrates Using Response Surface Methodology journal October 2019
Liquid metal-filled magnetorheological elastomer with positive piezoconductivity journal March 2019
Material‐Based Approaches for the Fabrication of Stretchable Electronics journal April 2020
High‐Transconductance Stretchable Transistors Achieved by Controlled Gold Microcrack Morphology journal July 2019
Printable Transparent Conductive Films for Flexible Electronics journal January 2018
Nanomaterial‐Enabled Flexible and Stretchable Sensing Systems: Processing, Integration, and Applications journal August 2019
A water-based silver nanowire ink for large-scale flexible transparent conductive films and touch screens journal January 2017
Fabrication of Stretchable Circuits on Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) Pre-Stretched Substrates by Inkjet Printing Silver Nanoparticles journal November 2018
Hydrophobic and stretchable Ag nanowire network electrode passivated by a sputtered PTFE layer for self-cleaning transparent thin film heaters journal January 2018
Highly stretchable wrinkled electrode based on silver ink‐elastomer nanocomposite with excellent fatigue resistance journal February 2020
Screen-printing of flexible semi-transparent electrodes and devices based on silver nanowire networks journal August 2018
A photolithographic stretchable transparent electrode for an all-solution-processed fully transparent conformal organic transistor array journal January 2019
Fused silver nanowires with silica sol nanoparticles for smooth, flexible, electrically conductive and highly stable transparent electrodes journal January 2018
Surface-Embedded Stretchable Electrodes by Direct Printing and their Uses to Fabricate Ultrathin Vibration Sensors and Circuits for 3D Structures journal October 2017
Screen printed silver nanowire and graphene oxide hybrid transparent electrodes for long-term electrocardiography monitoring journal August 2019
3D-printable, highly conductive hybrid composites employing chemically-reinforced, complex dimensional fillers and thermoplastic triblock copolymers journal January 2017
Rheological Issues in Carbon-Based Inks for Additive Manufacturing journal January 2019
A facile synthesis of 1,3,6,8-pyrenesulfonic acid tetrasodium salt as a hydrosoluble fluorescent ink for anti-counterfeiting applications journal January 2019
Skin‐Inspired Electronics and Its Applications in Advanced Intelligent Systems journal August 2019
Double-sided printed circuit textiles based on stencil-type layer-by-layer coating with PEDOT:PSS:Ag nanowires and chitosan for electrothermochromic displays journal January 2019
Development of a transparent and stretchable strain sensor based on the dry printing method journal September 2019
Disruptive, Soft, Wearable Sensors journal November 2019
Multifunctional Ultrastretchable Printed Soft Electronic Devices for Wearable Applications journal November 2019
Gravure Printing of Water-based Silver Nanowire ink on Plastic Substrate for Flexible Electronics journal October 2018
Electrical percolation threshold of carbon black in a polymer matrix and its application to antistatic fibre journal April 2019
Emerging Soft Conductors for Bioelectronic Interfaces journal November 2019
Screen printable MWCNT inks for printed electronics journal January 2017
A General Approach for Buckled Bulk Composites by Combined Biaxial Stretch and Layer‐by‐Layer Deposition and Their Electrical and Electromagnetic Applications journal March 2019
Flexible RFID Tag Metal Antenna on Paper‐Based Substrate by Inkjet Printing Technology journal May 2019
Mechanoresponsive Polymerized Liquid Metal Networks journal August 2019
Recent Progress on Stretchable Electronic Devices with Intrinsically Stretchable Components journal November 2016
All-printed magnetically self-healing electrochemical devices journal November 2016
Printable elastic conductors by in situ formation of silver nanoparticles from silver flakes journal May 2017
Tackling the Stability Issues of Silver Nanowire Transparent Conductive Films through FeCl3 Dilute Solution Treatment journal April 2019
Replacement reaction-assisted synthesis of silver nanoparticles by jet for conductive ink journal December 2019
Screen-Printed, Low-Cost, and Patterned Flexible Heater Based on Ag Fractal Dendrites for Human Wearable Application journal November 2018
3D-printed origami electronics using percolative conductors journal January 2018
Integration Techniques for Micro/Nanostructure-Based Large-Area Electronics journal January 2018
Copper nanowires in recent electronic applications: progress and perspectives journal January 2020
Printable Superelastic Conductors with Extreme Stretchability and Robust Cycling Endurance Enabled by Liquid-Metal Particles journal March 2018
Printing the Ultra-Long Ag Nanowires Inks onto the Flexible Textile Substrate for Stretchable Electronics journal May 2019
Nucleation-Controlled Plasticity of Metallic Nanowires and Nanoparticles journal July 2018
Direct Nanoimprinting of a Colloidal Self-Organizing Nanowire Ink for Flexible, Transparent Electrodes journal April 2017
3D printing of highly conductive silver architectures enabled to sinter at low temperatures journal January 2019
Fully transparent conformal organic thin-film transistor array and its application as LED front driving journal January 2018
Fabrication of high performance printed flexible conductors by doping of polyaniline nanomaterials into silver paste journal January 2019
A general gelation strategy for 1D nanowires: dynamically stable functional gels for 3D printing flexible electronics journal January 2018
Machine Learning‐Enabled Correlation and Modeling of Multimodal Response of Thin Film to Environment on Macro and Nanoscale Using “Lab‐on‐a‐Crystal” journal January 2020
A Simple Strategy towards Highly Conductive Silver‐Nanowire Inks for Screen‐Printed Flexible Transparent Conductive Films and Wearable Energy‐Storage Devices journal May 2019
Silver Nanowire Networks: Mechano-Electric Properties and Applications journal August 2019
Electrohydrodynamic printing of silver nanowires for flexible and stretchable electronics journal January 2018
Advanced electronic skin devices for healthcare applications journal January 2019
Intense pulsed light sintering of thick conductive wires on elastomeric dark substrate for hybrid 3D printing applications journal October 2018
Screen printing of silver nanowires: balancing conductivity with transparency while maintaining flexibility and stretchability journal July 2019
High-Throughput Fabrication of Flexible and Transparent All-Carbon Nanotube Electronics journal February 2018
Highly reliable mulberry paper (Hanji)-based electrode with printed silver nanowire/zinc oxide hybrid for soft electronics journal March 2019
Silver Nanoparticles Based Ink with Moderate Sintering in Flexible and Printed Electronics journal April 2019
Copper nanomaterials and assemblies for soft electronics journal August 2019
Stretchable electronics: functional materials, fabrication strategies and applications journal March 2019
Stretchable Organometal‐Halide‐Perovskite Quantum‐Dot Light‐Emitting Diodes journal January 2019
Printing Conductive Nanomaterials for Flexible and Stretchable Electronics: A Review of Materials, Processes, and Applications journal January 2019
A Room-Temperature High-Conductivity Metal Printing Paradigm with Visible-Light Projection Lithography journal November 2018
Self-healing and superstretchable conductors from hierarchical nanowire assemblies journal July 2018
Wireless Monitoring Using a Stretchable and Transparent Sensor Sheet Containing Metal Nanowires journal November 2019
Bistable and Reconfigurable Photonic Crystals-Electroactive Shape Memory Polymer Nanocomposite for Ink-Free Rewritable Paper journal June 2018
Stretchable Organic Semiconductor Devices journal August 2016
Advanced Carbon for Flexible and Wearable Electronics journal October 2018
Recent Development of Printed Micro‐Supercapacitors: Printable Materials, Printing Technologies, and Perspectives journal April 2019
Highly Stretchable Metallic Nanowire Networks Reinforced by the Underlying Randomly Distributed Elastic Polymer Nanofibers via Interfacial Adhesion Improvement journal July 2019
A Metal‐Like Conductive Elastomer with a Hierarchical Wrinkled Structure journal November 2019
Advanced Materials for Printed Wearable Electrochemical Devices: A Review journal December 2016
Facile synthesis of low temperature sintering Ag nanopaticles for printed flexible electronics journal December 2017
Enhanced flexibility and environmental durability of copper electrode produced with conductive ink containing silane coupling agents with diamine and ether spacer journal May 2019
Low-temperature reducible particle-free screen-printable silver ink for the fabrication of high conductive electrodes journal September 2019
Coat-and-print patterning of silver nanowires for flexible and transparent electronics journal December 2019
Screen-printing fabrication of high volumetric energy density micro-supercapacitors based on high-resolution thixotropic-ternary hybrid interdigital micro-electrodes journal January 2019
Highly conductive, flexible and stretchable conductors based on fractal silver nanostructures journal January 2018
All-printed, low-cost, tunable sensing range strain sensors based on Ag nanodendrite conductive inks for wearable electronics journal January 2019
Digitally printed stretchable electronics: a review journal January 2019
Conductive films based on sandwich structures of carbon nanotubes/silver nanowires for stretchable interconnects journal March 2019
Network Structure Modification‐Enabled Hybrid Polymer Dielectric Film with Zirconia for the Stretchable Transistor Applications journal December 2019
A Breathable and Screen-Printed Pressure Sensor Based on Nanofiber Membranes for Electronic Skins journal December 2017
Skin‐Inspired Electronics and Its Applications in Advanced Intelligent Systems journal August 2019
Fabrication and Evaluation of a Novel Non-Invasive Stretchable and Wearable Respiratory Rate Sensor Based on Silver Nanoparticles Using Inkjet Printing Technology journal September 2019
Sandwich-Structured Silver Nanowire Transparent Conductive Films with 3H Hardness and Robust Flexibility for Potential Applications in Curved Touch Screens journal April 2019
Telecommunications and Data Processing in Flexible Electronic Systems journal November 2019
Hydrous RuO 2 ‐Decorated MXene Coordinating with Silver Nanowire Inks Enabling Fully Printed Micro‐Supercapacitors with Extraordinary Volumetric Performance journal February 2019
Roller-Induced Bundling of Long Silver Nanowire Networks for Strong Interfacial Adhesion, Highly Flexible, Transparent Conductive Electrodes journal November 2017
Electric Field Assisted Self-Healing of Open Circuits with Conductive Particle-Insulating Fluid Dispersions: Optimizing Dispersion Concentration. text January 2019
Water-Borne Perovskite Quantum Dot-Loaded, Polystyrene Latex Ink journal October 2018
Mechanisms and Materials of Flexible and Stretchable Skin Sensors journal February 2017
Preparation of Nano Silver Paste and Applications in Transparent Electrodes via Electric-Field Driven Micro-Scale 3D Printing journal January 2020