Scientists of the Krasnoyarsk Scientific Center of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences have developed a simple and effective method that allows the production of solutions with an unusually high concentration of metals. Thanks to this method, the researchers were able to obtain a solution with a record number of silver nanoparticles – 1800 grams per liter. This approach allows you to create inks for three-dimensional printing, and also opens up new prospects for the development of materials and technologies.
Due to their unique properties, solutions of silver nanoparticles are widely used in optical and semiconductor devices, for the production of electro- and thermally conductive films, as well as as catalysts and antibacterial materials.
“Our solutions are much more concentrated, cheaper, safe to obtain, and also very productive compared to analogues. The concentrate based on silver particles significantly surpasses both foreign and domestic developments in many characteristics. Other developments have a concentration of no more than 500 grams per liter and require a time-consuming preparation procedure. Our technology is unique and allows the use of silver in the form of nitrate, which is restored under certain conditions. And the product can be used in printing and inkjet printers to create conductive tracks without the need for annealing. This opens the way to the production of printed and applied cheap electronics on flexible bases. Such as printed circuit boards and thin silver films,” said Sergey Vorobyov, Candidate of Chemical Sciences, Senior Researcher at the Institute of Chemistry and Chemical Technology SB RAS.
Krasnoyarsk scientists suggest that the proposed method can concentrate almost any materials in a nanoscale state. Such developments can find their application in biomedicine for targeted drug delivery, as well as for the enrichment of various types of ore.
Source: Krasnoyarsk Scientific Center SB RAS