Silver

Silver (Ag) is a soft, white lustrous transitional metal with an atomic number of 47. Among all metals, silver has the highest electrical conductivity (63 x 10^6 S/m), thermal conductivity (430 W/(m·K)), and reflectivity. The melting point of silver is 961.78°C and its boiling point is 2162°C. Silver has an atomic weight of 107.8682 u.

As a precious metal, in addition to traditional applications in currency, jewelry, and tableware, silver also plays an important role in the semiconductor industry due to its unique physical properties. Owing to its excellent conductivity, silver is commonly used to manufacture conductive pastes. It serves as a critical material for conductive traces in printed circuit boards (PCB), touch screens, RFID tags, and LED chip electrodes. The high conductivity of silver enables even extremely thin silver wires to effectively conduct electricity in microelectronic devices, making it irreplaceable for the miniaturization of integrated circuits.

Additionally, silver nanostructures have been extensively studied for their potential in photoelectric conversion, biosensing, and more. Silver nanoparticles can be used as fillers in semiconductor materials for solar cells to improve photoelectric conversion efficiency. They can also be applied in biological markers and antimicrobial materials, fully utilizing silver's conductivity and antimicrobial characteristics.

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