Exploration of Novel Nickel Metal Organic Decomposition Inks

In the growing and ever-evolving world of technology, the prospect of printable and flexible electronics has become prominent. Printable metal inks are of significant interest as they can be used to fabricate metal films efficiently, with greener materials, at lower-cost, and with low-waste as compared to conventional metal film deposition techniques. They also allow the utilization of a wider range of materials, giving way to flexible technologies in the future. Here, we introduce the formulation of novel nickel-precursor based liquid organometallic decomposing (MOD) inks that sinter at relatively low temperatures and thermally decompose into a conductive layer. In this work, nickel metal carboxylate salts were combined with liquid amino-alcohols to form these novel inks. These materials decompose at temperatures around 300 °C, leaving behind reduced metal and other gas-phase products. Our intent is to produce uniform metal mirrors with high conductivity and very low waste. To achieve this we prepared novel nickel MOD inks and characterized the inks, the decomposition process, and the prepared metal films that they produce