There is an increasing need to reduce
the silver content in silver-based
inks or pastes and achieve low-temperature sintering for scalable
and low-cost production of printed wearable electronics. This need
depends on the ability to control the metal composition and the surface
properties of the nanoinks. Alloying silver with copper provides a
pathway for meeting the need in terms of cost reduction, but little
is known about the composition controllability and the low-temperature
sintering capability. We report herein a scalable wet chemical synthesis
of bimetallic silver–copper alloy nanoinks with room temperature
sintering properties. The bimetallic alloy nanoparticles with a controllable
composition can be formulated as stable nanoinks. The nanoinks printed
on paper substrates are shown to sinter under room temperature. In
addition to composition dependence, the results reveal an intriguing
dependence of sintering on humidity above the printed nanoink films.
These findings are assessed based on theoretical simulation of the
sintering processes via surface-mediated sintering and interparticle
necking mechanisms in terms of nanoscale adsorption, adhesion and
diffusion, and surface free energies. Implications of the findings
for room temperature fabrication of wearable sensors are also discussed.