Contribution of Ligand Oxidation Products to High Durability of Copper Films Prepared from Low-Sintering-Temperature Copper Ink on Polymer Substrates

In electronic printing, ensuring high durability of sintered copper films on flexible substrates to obtain environmental stability and mechanical flexibility has become the most important task from a practical standpoint. In the study reported here, the authors develop solution synthesis of 2-amino-2-ethyl-1,3-propanediol (AEP)-protected copper nanoparticles (AEP-Cu NPs) with sizes of 3-8nm in ethylene glycol, where the Cu NPs are stabilized via the metallacyclic coordination stability of the AEP ligands. The sintered Cu film exhibits a resistivity of 50cm(-1) after heating at 150 degrees C under a nitrogen atmosphere. Most importantly, the resulting Cu films on the polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrates show excellent durability in terms of bending and adhesion without requiring any additives like nanotubes and nanowires. Furthermore, the authors successfully demonstrated the high environmental stability of the resulting Cu film even after it is exposed to harsh environmental conditions (RH 80%, 60 degrees C) for 1 month. The environmental durability is further improved by utilizing a composite ink of AEP-Cu NPs with copper microflakes. It is experimentally proven that oxidation products from AEP ligands originating in the sintering process contributed to the high durability of sintered copper films on flexible substrates.