Compositions and methods for forming articles having silver metal

1. An article comprising a substrate that is composed of a treated or untreated glass, silicon or a ceramic material, continuous flexible web of a polyester film, or a continuous transparent polyester, which substrate has a first supporting, side and a second opposing supporting side, and further comprising on one or both of the first supporting side and the second opposing supporting side:

one or more electrically-conductive silver metal containing patterns, each consisting essentially of:

silver metal;

an α-oxy carboxylate that is represented by the following formula (II):

wherein R 1 , R 2 , and R 3 are independently hydrogen or branched or linear alkyl groups, or by the following formula (III):

wherein R 4 is a branched or linear alkyl group having 1 to 8 carbon atoms and any of the hydrogen atoms in the R 4 branched or linear alkyl group optionally can be replaced with a fluorine atom;

a 5- or 6-membered N-heteroaromatic compound that is selected a from the group consisting of pyridine, 2-methylpyridine, 4-methylpyridine, 2,6-dimethylpyridine, 2,3-dimethylpyridine, 3,4-dimethylpyridine, 4-dimethylpyridine, 3-chloropyridine, 3-fluoropyridine, oxazole, 4-methyloxazole, isoxazole, 3-methylisoxazole, pyrimidine, pyrazine, pyridazine, and thiazole; and

a polymer that is either (i) a hydroxy-containing cellulosic polymer selected from the group consisting of hydroxyprolyl methylcellulose, hydroxypropyl cellulose, hydroxyethyl cellulose, and mixtures thereof, or (ii) a non-cellulosic acrylic polymer having a halo- or hydroxy-containing side chain.

2. The article of claim 1 , wherein the (ii) non-cellulosic acrylic polymer comprises recurring units derived from one or more (meth)acrylates, at least one of which (meth)acrylates comprises a halo- or hydroxy-containing side chain.

3. The article of claim 1 , wherein the 5- or 6-membered N-heteroaromatic compound is selected from the group consisting of pyridine, 2-methylpyridine, 4-methylpyridine, 2,5-dimethylpyridine, 2,3-dimethylpyridine, 3,4-dimethylpyridine, 3-chloropyridine, and 3-fluoropyridine.

4. The article of claim 1 , wherein each of the one or more electrically-conductive silver metal-containing thin film patterns has a sheet resistivity of less than 1000 ohms/□ as measured using a 4-point probe device.

5. The article of claim 1 , wherein each of the one or more electrically-conductive silver metal-containing thin film patterns has a sheet resistivity of less than 500 ohms/□ as measured using a 4-point probe device.

6. The article of claim 1 , wherein the substrate is a glass or ceramic material.

7. The article of claim 1 , wherein the substrate is a continuous polymeric web.

8. The article of claim 7 , wherein the substrate is a continuous transparent polyester film.

9. The article of claim 1 , wherein R 1 is hydrogen or a branched or linear alkyl group having 1 to 3 carbon atoms, and R 2 and R 3 are independently branched or linear alkyl groups having 1 to 8 carbon atoms, wherein any of the hydrogen atoms in the R 1 , R 2 , and R 3 branched or linear alkyl groups optionally can be replaced with a fluorine atom.

10. The article of claim 1 comprising on one or both of the first supporting side and the second supporting side, two or more of the electrically-conductive silver metal patterns.

11. The article of claim 1 , wherein the substrate has a dry thickness of at least 0.008 mm and up to and including 02 mm.