Metal nanoparticle inks are the most commonly used material for creating conductive contacts via inkjet printing. While there are many commercial inks available, these inks may not be well-matched to individual systems or process flows. As such, the custom design of metal nanoparticle inks is a possible solution. However, the creation of a highly-loaded metal nanoparticle ink that exhibits reliable jetting behavior is a non-trivial process. In this paper we discuss a systematic method for designing metal nanoparticle inks using the fluid properties of both the unloaded and loaded ink to achieve reliable jetting behavior. In addition, we discuss the application of non-traditional experimental optimization methods, namely multi-objective genetic algorithms, to the search for highly soluble metal nanoparticles.
Jacob Sadie, Himamshu Nallan, Steven Volkman, Vivek Subramanian, "Systematic Ink Design and Solubility Enhancement via Genetic Algorithm for Nanoparticle-based Inkjet Inks" in Proc. IS&T Int'l Conf. on Digital Printing Technologies and Digital Fabrication (NIP31), 2015, pp 439 - 442, https://doi.org/10.2352/ISSN.2169-4451.2015.31.1.art00097_1