For a decade, solution-processed functional materials and various printing technologies have attracted increasingly the significant interest in realizing low-cost flexible electronics. In this study, Cu nanoparticles are synthesized via the chemical reduction of Cu ions under inert atmosphere. To prevent interparticle agglomeration and surface oxidation, oleic acid is incorporated as a surface capping molecule and hydrazine is used as a reducing agent. To endow water-compatibility, the surface of synthesized Cu nanoparticles is modified by a mixture of carboxyl-terminated anionic polyelectrolyte and polyoxylethylene oleylamine ether. For reducing the surface tension and the evaporation rate of aqueous Cu nanoparticle inks, the solvent composition of Cu nanoparticle ink is designed as DI water:2-methoxy ethanol:glycerol:ethylene glycol = 50:20:5:25 wt%. The effects of poly(styrene-co-maleic acid) as an adhesion promoter(AP) on rheology of aqueous Cu nanoparticle inks and adhesion of Cu pattern printed on polyimid films are investigated. The 40 wt% aqueous Cu nanoparticle inks with 0.5 wt% of Poly(styrene-co-maleic acid) show the “Newtonian flow” and has a low viscosity under 10 mPa·S, which is applicable to inkjet printing. The Cu patterns with a linewidth of 50~60 μm are successfully fabricated. With the addition of Poly(styrene-co-maleic acid), the adhesion of printed Cu patterns on polyimid films is superior to those of patterns prepared from Poly(styrene-comaleic acid)-free inks. The resistivities of Cu films are measured to be 10~15 μΩ·cm at annealing temperature of 300 ˚C.

Silicon nanoparticle is a promising material for electronic devices, photovoltaics, and biological applications. Here, we synthesize silicon nanoparticles via CO2 laser pyrolysis and study the hydrogen flow effects on the characteristics of silicon nanoparticles using high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and UV-Vis-NIR spectrophotometry. In CO2 laser pyrolysis, used to synthesize the silicon nanoparticles, the wavelength of the CO2 laser matches the absorption cross section of silane. Silane absorbs the CO2 laser energy at a wavelength of 10.6μm. Therefore, the laser excites silane, dissociating it to Si radical. Finally, nucleation and growth of the Si radicals generates various silicon nanoparticle. In addition, researchers can introduce hydrogen gas into silane to control the characteristics of silicon nanoparticles. Changing the hydrogen flow rate affects the nanoparticle size and crystallinity of silicon nanoparticles. Specifically, a high hydrogen flow rate produces small silicon nanoparticles and induces low crystallinity. We attribute these characteristics to the low density of the Si precursor, high hydrogen passivation probability on the surface of the silicon nanoparticles, and low reaction temperature during the synthesis.

The nano-sized Co particles were successfully synthesized by chemical vapor condensation (CVC) process using the precursor of cobalt carbonyl (). The influence of carrier gases on the microstructure and magnetic properties of nanoparticles was investigated by means of XRD, TEM, XPS and VSM. The Co nano-particles with different phases and shapes were synthesized with a change of carrier gas : long string morphologies with coexistence of fcc and hcp structure in Ar carrier gas condition; finer Co core in a mass of cobalt oxide with only fcc structure in He; rod type cobalt oxide phase in Ar＋6vol％. The saturation magnetization and coercivity was lower in Co nanoparticles synthesized in He carrier gas, due to their finer size.