Liquid-phase synthesis and evaluation of dispersed submicron silver powders
摘要
Silver powders are key materials in conductive silver pastes for solar cells. However, the ultrafine silver powders with high dispersion is still a challenge. Herein, highly dispersed submicron silver powders were prepared by mixing a silver nitrate solution and an ascorbic acid solution with Arabic gum. The effects of the Arabic gum/silver nitrate ratio and pH on the particle size and properties of the silver powders were investigated. The results show that Arabic gum can play a positive role in dispersion during the preparation of spherical silver powders. The particle size of the silver powders decreases and then increases with increasing Arabic gum/silver nitrate ratio and pH. The size distribution of the silver powders becomes narrow and then wide with increasing the ratio. The size distribution of silver powders prepared in acidic solutions is narrower than that of silver powders prepared in neutral solutions. When the pH is 6 and the Arabic gum/silver nitrate mass ratio is 0.1, submicron silver powder (0.342 μm) with a narrow size distribution and good dispersion can be obtained.