Oxidation-free Cu material for printed electronics

Developing a low cost printing material that can replace silver for the formation of a conducting pattern is an important issue in printed electronics. We report a novel approach using a non-oxidized copper material during the printing and sintering process under ambient conditions, which was previously considered unachievable. An attempt was made to understand the conversion process of cuprous oxide nanoparticle aggregates on metallic copper crystals through chemical reduction in the solution phase. The detailed mechanism for this conversion, including the role of the surfactant and crystal growth, was examined.