Conductivity improvement of silver flakes filled electrical conductive adhesives via introducing silver–graphene nanocomposites

In this study, silver–graphene nanocomposites (SGNs) were successfully prepared by spontaneous reduction of silver ions and graphene oxide. Silver nanoparticles (about 30 nm) with narrow size distribution were distributed randomly on the surface of graphene. Different amounts of SGNs were introduced into silver flakes filled electrical conductive adhesives (ECAs) to study the effect of SGNs on the properties of the ECAs. The results showed that the volume resistivity of the ECAs decreased first and then increased with the increase of weight ratios of SGNs to silver flakes. While the weight ratio of SGNs to silver flakes was 20:80 (%), the resistivity reached the lowest value of 2.37 × 10−4 Ω cm. The lap shear strength decreased with the increase of the content ration of SGNs. And when the weight ratio of SGNs to silver flakes was 20:80 (%), the lap shear strength of ECA was about 10 MPa. According to the thermogravimetric analysis, the addition of SGNs can cause a slight decrease in the thermal stability of the ECA. In summary, SGNs are the promising candidates for the conductivity improvement of silver flakes filled electrical conductive adhesives.