Communications of the ACM
Nanowire 'inks' Enable Paper-Based Printable Electronics
Duke University scientists have determined that silver nanowire films conduct electricity well enough to form functioning circuits without applying high heat.
Credit: Ian Stewart
Electrons zip through films made of silver nanowires much easier than films made from other shapes, such as nanospheres or microflakes, according to Duke University scientists, who were not surprised that the long nanowire films had the highest conductivity, but by how drastic the change was.
"The nanowires had a 4,000-times higher conductivity than the more commonly used silver nanoparticles that you would find in printed antennas for [radio-frequency identification] tags," says Duke professor Benjamin Wiley. "So if you use nanowires, then you don't have to heat the printed circuits up to such high temperature and you can use cheaper plastics or paper. There is really nothing else I can think of besides these silver nanowires that you can just print and it's simply conductive, without any post-processing."
For circuits in printed electronics to work, they first have to be heated to melt all the nanoparticles together into a single conductive wire, which makes it impossible to print circuits on inexpensive plastics or paper. However, the team says electrons flowing through the nanowire films could function in printed circuits without the need to melt them all together.
Beyond smart packaging, the technology could be used to make solar cells, printed displays, light-emitting diodes, touchscreens, amplifiers, batteries, and implantable bio-electronic devices.
From Duke Today
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