2026 Undergraduate Research Showcase

Pen, Paper and Photonic Sintering ff Low Temperature Gold Nanoparticle Inks for Flexible Printed Electronics

Document Type

Student Presentation

Presentation Date

4-24-2026

Faculty Sponsor

Dr. Tony Valayil Varghese

Abstract

Circuits using metallic nanoparticle inks printed on low temperature substrates have become a viable approach to develop recyclable circuits through the implementation of intense pulsated light (IPL) photonic sintering and pen plotting. Photonic sintering has shown to increase conductivity in printed metallic inks but lacks optimal processing parameters. This research investigates the conditions that maximize the conductivity in gold nanoparticle ink circuit samples. Two-prong circuit samples with variable characteristics were printed and sintered under a variety of conditions. Our early results have shown that samples with 1 layer and 0.4-pixel hatch width, sintered with 2800 volts, 7 pulses of 3000 microseconds, and 1000 ms delay in between pulses achieved the lowest average resistance of 5.3 Ohms. These findings demonstrate that these specific parameters reduce the resistance in printed nanoparticle ink circuits. The use of a pen plotter and photonic sintering enables widescale development of cheap, efficient, and biodegradable electronics.

Comments

This research was funded by a spring 2026 Undergraduate Research FUEL Grant.

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