Inks of inorganic nanocrystals hold great promise for printed electronics but the widely used organic surfactants (ligands) needed to stabilize these inks degrade the electrical quality of the printed films. IRG-4 researchers discovered that chlorine- covered silicon nanocrystals exhibit weak attractive interactions with common solvents that enable forming inks without any organic ligands. The same effect also causes the conductivity of silicon nanocrystal films to increase 1,000 times.
