Preparation and electrical conductivity of metal and photosensitive polymer composite film

Abstract

In-situ photochemical synthesis and spin casting were used to fabricate a metal and photosensitive polymer composite film on insulation substrates in this study. The metal salt/photosensitive polymer solution consists of polyethylene glycol diacrylate(PEGDA) as the monomer, a mixture of 50% 1-hydroxycyclohexyl-phenyl ketone and 50% benzophenone as the photo initiator, ethanol as the reducing agent, pyrrole as the organic electrolyte, and silver nitrate (AgNO3) as the conductor. The resulting composite liquid was spin coated onto a glass substrate, irradiated by ultraviolet–visible light so that silver particles were in-situ synthesized by photo polymerization, and treated thermally to form a silver nanoparticle/polymer composite film. As shown in the results, the sheet electrical resistance of the as-prepared composite film formed with 12.5 wt% of AgNO3; irradiation by 3 J/cm2 of ultraviolet–visible light, which produced an Ag particle size of about 24 nm; and thermal treatment at 250 °C for 30 min would be less than 2 Ω/sq, as measured with a four-probe points of sheet electrical resistance meter. This implies that the electrical continuity path on the surface of the as-prepared composite is induced by Ostwald ripening. The composite prepared in this study promises application in electronics and communication to prevent electromagnetic interference (EMI) and radio frequency interference (RFI).