Preparation of sintered silver nanosheets by coating technique using silver carbamate complex

Abstract

This study describes a coating technique approach for large-scale preparation of sintered silver nanosheets whose lateral dimensions were controlled in the thickness range of 50–65 nm. These procedures involved coating water-soluble poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and silver 2-ethylhexylcarbamate (Ag-EHC), as well as thermal reduction of a silver precursor by heating at 150 °C, followed by dissolving away the PVA layer with alcoholic water. When the silver carbamate layer on the PVA layer was heated to 150 °C, the silver carbamate layer was thermally reduced and directed to grow into uniform sintered nanosheets with aspect ratios as high as 1000. The multi-stacked PVA/Ag structures and sintered silver nanosheets were confirmed by scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction. Measurements of the conductive property at room temperature indicated that these nanosheets were electrically continuous with a resistivity of approximately 7.3 × 10−6 Ω cm.