Copper conductive inks: synthesis and utilization in flexible electronics

Conductive inks are a recent advance in electronics and have promising future applications in flexible electronics and smart applications. In this review we tried to focus on a particular conductive ink that is based on copper nanoparticles. Although extensive research is being done all over the world, a few complications are yet to be perfectly solved. We tried to focus on some of the complications involved in their synthesis and their various applications in the different fields of science. Conductive inks have promising applications in the present trends of science and technology. The main intention behind this review is to list some of the best methods to synthesize copper nanoparticles according to the method of synthesizing them. We chose copper nanoparticle synthesis and the preparation of conductive inks because copper is a very abundant material, possesses high conductivity (after silver), and it has huge potential to replace expensive conductive inks made of silver, graphene, CNTs, etc. The other reason behind focussing on copper is its properties, such as ductility, malleability, thermal dissipation activity, anti-microbial nature, etc. In this review, we have listed some of the best methods of synthesizing copper conductive inks and their usage in various printing techniques. Different methods of sintering for the obtained conductive patterns are also included.