I have prepared copper nanoparticles with different methods. But when I prepare their films after dispersing in propylene glycol, the film I get is powdery. I have tried so many times but each time after evaporating the solvent the film is in powder form. Can you please tell some techniques to prepare conductive film of copper nanoparticles?
You need to add to the propylene glycol a polymeric electrically conductive binder polyaniline, polypyrrole. Copper nanoparticles after drying will be fastened with these polymers. A homogeneous film forms. These polymers have good electrical conductivity.
Cf.: M. Grouchko, S. Magdassi, Assignee: Yisum Research, “Inks containing metal precursors nanoparticles”, US Pat. 2015/0056426 A1, Feb. 26, 2015.
Make sure you are using the right size of nanoparticle: close to micro-sized particles tend to give you a loosely packed powdery film while nanoparticles (below 100nm) tend to give you a smooth film. Also, evaporation of solvent is not enough, you need anneal the film at relatively high temperature, making these nanoparticles connected to each.
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