Preparation of stable aqueous based Ag nanoparticle ink with different capping agent for printing on a plastic substrate

The silver conductive films are formed by depositing the Ag nanoparticles (NPs) inks dispersion onto the plastic substrate and drying the solvent at room temperature. This paper aims to investigate the effects of the different capping agent poly(vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP), polyaniline (PAN), L-cysteine (L-cys), and oleic acid (OA)) on the electrical resistivity. The high conductivity was achieved by the self-aggregation of Ag/PVP NPs after drying the solvent. We compared the conductivity ability of four Ag NPs, and thought the coordination ability and adhesive force onto substrates of capping agent resulted in the different conductivity. This method is expected to have many potential applications for low-cost printable electronics.