Preparation of stable aqueous conductive ink with silver nanoflakes and its application on paper‐based flexible electronics

A new kind of stable aqueous conductive ink with silver nanoflakes was developed, which was also used to fabricate conductive patterns on weighing paper for flexible electronics by direct writing. Silver nanoflakes of different sizes were characterized by transmission electron microscopy. The physical properties of the conductive ink were investigated by a dynamic contact angle system, Ubbelohde viscometer, and a surface tension instrument. Conductive properties of paper‐based conductive patterns were also investigated by 4‐point probe, scanning electron microscopy, X‐ray diffraction and Uscan explorer with a 3D profilometer system. It is demonstrated how the formulation of conductive ink affects the surface morphology, microstructure conductivity, and line width of conductive patterns. It can be obtained that the paper‐based conductive patterns have low resistivity. Especially, when the sintering condition is 200 °C for 20 min, the resistivity can be down to 9.4 μΩ?cm. The application of the ink on an antenna for radio frequency identification was also studied. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.