Synthesis of Ag nanoparticles using an electrolysis method and application to inkjet printing

This paper reports a new mass-production method for synthesizing Ag nano-particles using electrolysis. In this method, Ag ions were directly and continuously extracted from 99 wt% Ag metal electrodes and a reduction agent reduced them to Ag nano-particles. By changing the applied voltage and electrolyte temperature, the average size of the synthesized Ag particles was shown to vary in the range of 10–80 nm. These particles were tested for the possibility of micropatterning of the electrode on a polyimide substrate. As a result, patterns as fine as 50–100 μm with a relatively low resistivity of 6.5 μΩ cm were successfully obtained.

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► New mass-production method for synthesizing Ag nano-particles using electrolysis.
► Ag ions were extracted from Ag metal electrodes.
► A reduction agent reduced ions to Ag nano-particles.
► Ag nano-particles is influenced by changing the applied voltage and electrolyte temperature.
► The patterned Ag nano-particles as fine as 50–100 μm with a resistivity of 6.5 μΩ cm were obtained.