This study reports the formation, structure, geometric characteristics, and conductivity of composite thin films obtained via the mobile meniscus method from nanodispersed silver particles with diameter less than 10 nm. The film thickness and the conductivity as functions of the weight concentration of a precursor (AgNO3), silver nanoparticle concentration (size), and evaporation temperature are established as well.

Conductive properties of deposits formed on evaporation of drops of silver nanoparticle dispersions were investigated. Deposits comprised two ringlike structures formed along the perimeter of the evaporating drop with the width of the first one being on the order of a few tens of microns and the second one being several hundred microns. It was shown that only the outer ringlike deposit conducted current. Dependences of its conductivity on the precursor content and on the size and concentration of nanoparticles in the initial colloidal solution were investigated, which were found to be similar to the percolation transition. Regularities of the deposit formation and the charge transfer mechanisms were discussed under the assumption that the investigated ringlike deposit represented a metal-polymer composite.

Nanoparticles of silver synthesized in aqueous solutions of polymers are analyzed by various methods. The article presents the results of experimental observations of formation of nanostructures upon vaporization of droplets of nanoparticle dispersions.

The influence of thermal and electromagnetic effects on the percolation characteristics of conducting polymer films filled with nickel particles was studied. The possible shift of the percolation threshold to the region of lower particle concentrations under the effect of electromagnetic pulses and the increase of this threshold with temperature was demonstrated. An assumption on the existence of two percolation transitions (geoometrical and that due to the change in the conductivity mechanism induced by internal stresses) was made.

Structural characteristics of aggregates formed in films of reactive polymers filled with nickel particles that have been modified with stearic acid were analyzed. It was shown that fractal aggregates with a bimodal size distribution are formed in a system. At the same time, a slight effect of chemical modification of the particle surface on the fractal characteristics of the aggregates and conductive properties of the composite under investigation was revealed.

The problem of the relationship between the fractal characteristics of aggregates and the transport properties of disordered systems formed by these aggregates is discussed on the basis of experimental data obtained earlier on the conductivity of metal-filled polymer films near the percolation threshold and the aggregation of filler particles during curing of compositions.

The structural parameters of aggregates formed in filled thermosetting polymers under various curing conditions were analyzed. The curing regime was shown to affect only the average size of the aggregates. The logarithmic normal size distribution for aggregates was observed for all the curing conditions studied. The structure of aggregates is fractal. The fractal dimensionality of aggregates corresponds to diffusion-controlled aggregation.