Self-sintering nanoink developed in Israel

Dan Rogers - 17 May 2011

A research group at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has developed technology for a nanoink that self-sinters at room temperature.

The research demonstrated that the nanoink could be deposited and provide conductive properties without requiring a post-sintering process step. Instead, the properties of the nanomaterial are used to make the ink aggregate and self-sinter.

Shlomo Magdassi of the university's institute of chemistry explains: 'We took some of the problems with the material and converted them into an advantage. The particle parts tend to aggregate in the ink: however, by putting them on a substrate and forcing them together we can cause the material to aggregate when printed in a desired pattern.'

The ink dispersants stabilise the silver nanoparticles. A small amount of destabiliser acts as a sintering agent as the ink dries, the research team explains in a paper on ACS Nano.

The removal of the sintering process, which often requires a change of temperature too, means that circuitry could be printed at a lower cost, and on substrates limited to lower processing temperatures - such as paper and plastics.

The research group will now work on adapting the nanoink to apply to plastic substrates, including improving the stability of devices produced.

Licence

The research group has also recently licensed a process for the production of metallic inks to Vaxan, as part of an ongoing licensing agreement.

Magdassi expects the technology to be scaled up following the licensing deal with the South Korean firm .

He comments: 'The ink product is still on a small scale, but it will not be too long before we are getting into large areas.'

In January 2011 the Yissum Technology Transfer Company of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem agreed a licensing deal for silver and silver-coated copper nanoparticles for conductive inks, as announced by Israeli business news website Globes.

The next issue of +Plastic Electronics magazine is a nanotechnology special, with a series of articles on the latest technologies and emerging markets for printed nanoelectronics, including more on the development of nanoinks at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The magazine will be appearing at the forthcoming NanoMaterials 2011 conference.
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