Fabrication of PDMS-Stabilized porous silver films derived from recovered silver sources as flexible conductive materials

This study presents a simple and efficient method for making flexible conductive materials by forming porous silver films on a PDMS substrate. Silver is first converted into silver acetate through a green acetoxylation process using ethyl acetate, and then thermally decomposed to create a porous silver layer. We tested different silver sources, including pure silver and recovered silver from spent button batteries, and found that all of them formed the same rod-shaped silver acetate, showing that the reaction does not depend on the initial silver shape. When heated, this material transforms into porous silver films, but uncontrolled sintering can make the film rigid and reduce conductivity. To solve this, a thin layer of PDMS is used to stabilize the surface and prevent excessive sintering. As a result, the PDMS-coated films show excellent flexibility during stretching and bending. Overall, this approach provides a promising and sustainable pathway for producing flexible conductive materials from both pure and recovered silver sources.