A facile microwave approach to the fast-and-direct production of silver nano-ink

In this work, we proposed a microwave method to the fast-and-direct preparation of silver nano-ink. The conductive ink is composed of multi-scaled silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and a few of silver nanorods (AgNRs) as the conductive components. The differently sized nano-silver can provide high conductivity of the written tracks by affording high packing density. The existed one dimensional nanorods can build bridges between nanoparticles to decrease the silver content while maintaining the conductivity of the written pattern. The as-prepared conductive ink can be stored for 20 days without affecting its usability. The written tracks showed satisfying conductivity with a relatively low silver content of 0.025molL−1. [Display omitted] •A microwave way to the fast-and-direct preparation of silver nano-ink was proposed.•The conductive components were multi-scaled silver nanoparticles and nanorods.•The multi-sized nano-silver can provide high packing density and conductivity.•The silver content was only 0.025molL−1 for the prepared conductive ink.