Screen-Printed Corrosion-Resistant and Long-Term Stable Stretchable Electronics Based on AgAu Microflake Conductors

High-throughput production methods such as screen printing can bring stretchable electronics out of the lab into the market. Most stretchable conductor inks for screen printing are based on silver nanoparticles or flakes due to their favorable performance-to-cost ratio, but silver is prone to tarnishing and corrosion, thereby limiting the stability of such conductors. Here, we report on a cost-efficient and scalable approach to resolve this issue by developing screen printable inks based on silver flakes chemically coated by a thin layer of gold. The printed stretchable AgAu conductors reach a conductivity of 8500 S cm-1, remain conductive up to 250% strain, show excellent corrosion and tarnishing stability, and are used to demonstrate wearable LED and NFC circuits. The reported approach is attractive for smart clothing, as the long-term functionality of such devices is expected in a variety of environments.

Automated summary

High-throughput production methods, such as screen printing, can bring stretchable electronics out of the lab and into the market. We report on a cost-efficient and scalable approach to improving the stability of stretchable conductor inks based on silver flakes by coating them with a thin layer of gold. The resulting conductors are highly conductive, remain functional under high strain, and show excellent corrosion and tarnishing stability, making them ideal for wearable LED and NFC circuits.