Conductive inks have been widely investigated in recent years due to their popularity in printed electronics (PE) and flexible electronics (FE). They comprise specific and unique applications that belong to a whole new level of future technology. In this context, silver is a keenly researched material for its promising application in conductive inks. In printing technology, silver conductive inks have a major role in electronic applications. The emerging integration of different technologies is in the form of silver nanoinks. In recent years, the printed electronics market has been dominated by expensive materials such as gold, platinum, etc., which result in costly and complex instruments. To overcome these drawbacks, silver conductive inks can serve as alternative to the current technology. Presently, printed circuit boards (PCBs) use complex and expensive techniques to fabricate the circuit boards, which in turn increases the overall cost. Solvent-based silver conductive inks are capable of substituting PCB technology while reducing the cost of manufacturing. Due to their stellar reputation, investors are looking forward to applying this technology in printed electronics industries.

Conductive inks are a recent advance in electronics and have promising future applications in flexible electronics and smart applications. In this review we tried to focus on a particular conductive ink that is based on copper nanoparticles. Although extensive research is being done all over the world, a few complications are yet to be perfectly solved. We tried to focus on some of the complications involved in their synthesis and their various applications in the different fields of science. Conductive inks have promising applications in the present trends of science and technology. The main intention behind this review is to list some of the best methods to synthesize copper nanoparticles according to the method of synthesizing them. We chose copper nanoparticle synthesis and the preparation of conductive inks because copper is a very abundant material, possesses high conductivity (after silver), and it has huge potential to replace expensive conductive inks made of silver, graphene, CNTs, etc. The other reason behind focussing on copper is its properties, such as ductility, malleability, thermal dissipation activity, anti-microbial nature, etc. In this review, we have listed some of the best methods of synthesizing copper conductive inks and their usage in various printing techniques. Different methods of sintering for the obtained conductive patterns are also included.

Non-fullerene organic solar cells employing small molecule acceptors have recently crossed the PCE of 17% through the design and synthesis of efficient acceptor materials. One of the greatest advantages of non-fullerene acceptors (NFAs) is the tunability of the absorption spectrum, frontier molecular orbital (FMO) energy levels and solubility via molecular engineering. Electron deficient chromophoric groups play an important role in the synthesis of efficient non-fullerene acceptors. End groups enhance the absorption, electron acceptor properties and overall performance of a molecule as an acceptor after attaching with a π-conjugated backbone. In this review, a number of NFAs are highlighted focusing on the effect of terminal chromophoric groups on the overall performance of organic photovoltaic devices.