Product design: Metal nanoparticle‐based conductive inkjet inks

Abstract

A systematic procedure that provides an efficient workflow for formulating conductive inks is developed. Qualitative product attributes of the inkjet ink are first identified and transformed into quantitative product specifications. Ingredients are then selected based on heuristics, mechanistic, and empirical models to meet the product specifications. Printability checks based on theoretical criteria are used to ensure that stable droplets can in principle be formed and coalesced properly to form a printed line of ink. Then, the conductive ink is prepared and printed to evaluate the performance of the inkjet ink experimentally. An example of preparing a copper ink for inkjet printing is used to illustrate the systematic procedure. Have good printability ᭺ Stable droplets are formed during printing ᭺ The ink has suitable wettability on the substrate surface ᭺ Droplets deposited on the substrate coalesce to form a line properly Product attributes as a solid track Have a good conductivity ᭺ No coffee ring stains are observed ᭺ No cracks are observed ᭺ Minimum pore volume in track a The contact angles of water, ethylene glycol, and glycerol were measured by the sessile drop technique. The contact angles of other solvents were estimated by the OWRK method.

Automated robotic platforms in design and development of formulations

“…17 In this case, with only few key ingredients, and a set of typical solvents and dispersants, it was possible for an experienced researcher to develop the optimal blend on a lab-scale, and eventually use the gathered experimental data to generate a model for future use. 18 However, this approach suffers from two main drawbacks: (i) it requires a large amount of resources and is highly time-demanding, (ii) it is critically dependent on the level of expertise of an experimentalist, the past knowledge, both formal and tacit as identified by Chandrasegaran et al 19 In particular, tacit knowledge, consisting of subjective insights, intuition, and heuristic qualitative rules is not easily transferable and is usually lost with the loss of the experts in product development. Therefore, this approach would be beneficial if the number and the type of ingredients and processes conditions were limited a priori and skilled experts are involved in the process.…”

Preparation of Cu@Ag Nanoparticles for Conductive Ink

“…This kind of conductive ink has good properties but its cost is high, so it is not suitable for mass production, and there is a problem with electron migration using nano-silver ink [2]. Copper is the preferred substitute for gold and silver because of its high conductivity, low price, and low electron mobility [3]. Park et al [4] synthesized copper particles with a particle size of 40 -50 nm by a polyol method and used these particles to prepare conductive ink with good dispersion and low viscosity.…”

Conceptual design of chemical devices

“…For example, computer‐aided molecular design has been commonly used to design molecular and formulated products. [ 5‐10 ] However, despite the numerous studies in the past two decades that provide domain‐specific knowledge for designing various types of chemical products, [ 11‐48 ] as summarized in Table S1, a general design framework for chemical devices such as air purifiers, [ 38 ] catalytic converter, [ 39,40 ] hemodialysis device, [ 41 ] biosensor, [ 42,43 ] dehumidifier, [ 44‐47 ] and osmotic pump [ 48 ] is still missing. Consequently, the design of chemical devices is still largely done by trial and error based on the engineer's knowledge and experience.…”