The Fabrication of Conductive Ink

Student research is an important and necessary activity of training and educating, help contributing to improve the quality of education. Within the process of international economic integration, especially the integration in education and training, the building and development of the scientific research movement among students of the Faculty of Applied Science of Ton Duc Thang University has been increasingly enhanced and received a lot of attention, support from the school, as well as it has attracted a lot of students to participate in. In addition to help the students build their knowledge and professional experience, implementing a research project not only helps them develop soft skills such as teamwork with a shared sense of responsibility, but also teaches them the skills of document searching, analytical and synthesis methods, presentation skills. Moreover, students will be trained to improve their confidence when present and protect their researching threads among a scientific committee, through that, bring to them extremely useful and valuable experiences.

   
Project team: Tam Nguyen Minh, Muoi Vo Thi, Truc Hoang Thi Thanh

    Nowadays, the demand of replacing traditional wires with a kind of conductive ink in the field of manufacturing and repairing of electronic circuits, supercapacitors, Integrated Circuit, Solar cells ... are really essential. However, domestic productions haven’t yet been produced and it has been dependent on imported goods at high prices and expensive taxation. Wishing to save money for manufacturers, the group proposed and implemented the idea of producing conductive ink from copper nanoparticles to reduce production expense, protect the environment and human health by using the source reductant from vitamin C, make the manufacturing process becomes more diversified.
● Results from the research:
  
   

Photos of the stages forming the conductive ink

Housing model images are powered by copper conductive ink

● The scientific significances of the research:
The success in creating the Conductive Ink with simples, durable and highly economic performance attributes can create a basis for further researches in domains of semiconductor, electrochemistry and sensor transducers.
Conductive Ink can replace metal conductors to save costs. Furthermore, it will be easier metal conductors when using conductive ink in repairing or changing the original designs. In modern semiconductor technology, creating a neat, lightweight, efficient IC or PCB that saves on production costs is an important and necessary trend. The products which based on size and performance improvements also contribute significantly to the creation of better technical products.
  

Picture of TDTU K20 project team student group and their advisor (Dr. Tran Thien Khanh), together with the simulated product of conductive ink in application for replacement of traditional wire
 
At an economic perspective, our team is completely confident in the competitive ability of the product. Nano copper conductive ink can occupy a Niche market in the future with its price, its ease in manufacturing, use, and safety with the human health. Additionally, the environmental friendliness of the chemical composition as well as the manufacturing process is the brightest point of this product. The project is expected to open a new trend in researching and making up (in the sensor, electronics, energy technology, aerospace, etc.). It also promises further researches and improvements to become a perfect product for the market’s demands.
"A country that wants to thrive and stably develop is a nation dedicated its sources and efforts investing in basic science."