Low temperature sintering nano-silver conductive ink printed on cotton fabric as printed electronics

Abstract Monodisperse silver nanoparticles conductive ink was successfully synthesized by in-situ synthesis method in an aqueous solution. The size distribution of the Ag nanoparticles was tested and the average diameter was within 10 nm. A spontaneous coalescence and sintering of Ag NPs at 60 °C for 30 min was realized in the presence of hydrogen chloride. The interface bonding between dispersant and silver nanoparticles was investigated by XRD and FTIR. The conductive ink doped with polyaniline has a good adhesion to cotton surface and better conductivity. The highest conductivity was 2 × 10 −5  Ω m when the silver content was 30 wt.%. This prepared conductive ink could be printed on cotton fabric to form conductive circuits and the conductivity can remain at least 30 days. These promising results suggest applications of printed electronics devices using textiles as substrates.