Inkjet printing of silver conductive ink on textiles for electronic applications: impact of ink formulation on electrical performances of the ink

Abstract

Printed electronics technology is one of the most dynamic in the world, allowing for the low-cost fabrication of electronic networks on textile substrates using the inkjet printing technique which is commonly used in various industries. In the field of formulation of conductive inks, silver nanoparticles are generally used as precursors that confer electrical conductivity to the printed patterns. In the present work, we synthesized silver nanoparticles by an ecological reduction method and then dispersed them in a PEG/Glycerol mixture to prepare a conductive ink. The silver nanoparticles were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), as well as the morphology of the printed silver tracks was characterized by SEM. The developed ink was then successfully printed on a piece of pre-treated cotton fabric to produce flexible electronic components on the textile.