Synthesis of Ag-Pd Alloy Nanoparticles Suitable as Precursors for Ionic Migration-Resistant Conductive Film

Tetradecanoate-stabilized Ag-Pd alloy nanoparticles (NPs) were quantitatively synthesized by the controlled thermolysis of silver tetradecanoate and palladium tetradecanoate in the presence of tripropylamine. This approach is a one-pot synthetic method applicable to large-scale preparation. The Ag-Pd alloy NPs obtained at feeding ratios of Ag/Pd = 85/15, 50/50, and 15/85 have mean diameters of about 3 nm with narrow size distributions. The structure of Ag-Pd alloy NPs was solid solution face-centered cubic (fcc) crystalline structure, which was confirmed by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) and powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) measurement. The elemental compositions of the Ag-Pd alloy NPs corresponded closely with the feeding ratio of the precursors. The Ag-Pd alloy NPs were studied as printable precursors to fabricate conductive elements for printed electronics. The electronic circuit pattern was prepared by screen-printing, using Ag-Pd alloy NPs ink, and then converted to conductive film by annealing at 300 °C. The obtained metallic Ag-Pd alloy film had both high conductivity and ionic migration-resistance.