As we move away from glass and onto plastic substrates, from the transition metals to the main group, there is now an urgent need to reinvent precursors such that they can be deposited at low temperatures onto flexible substrates. This opens up an exciting new avenue for the organometallic chemist.<br/>Recent work has highlighted that the careful selection of ligands can aid reduction of the metal complexes to leave conductive metals (e.g. Cu, Ag, Al). Facile formulation of these compounds into inks allows for inkjet printing and subsequent low temperature reduction (via thermal sintering) yielding highly conductive features which can be incorporated into electronic devices.<br/>Here we discuss the chemistry of precursor development and report our work on printed metal tracks. Recent advances in the synthesis of interesting main group compounds, particularly aluminium hydride chemistry have inspired this work on precursor synthesis. Using careful ligand design we can attune the properties of the resultant precursor at the molecular level, making precursor functionality fully adjustable. We describe the synthesis, characterisation and printing of a library of novel compounds; selected to produce various deposits fulfilling the required specification – with particular focus on sintering methods, including thermal and plasma enhanced.<br/> <br/>

Precursor design, synthesis, and reactivity: Tuning molecules for low temperature conversion to functional materials

2019 Fall National Meeting

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