heating produces a number of effects one desired effect is to cause the metal nanoparticles to form the electrically conductive layer in embodiments the heating causes the metal nanoparticles to coalesce to form an electrically conductive layer in other embodiments it may be possible that the metal nanoparticles achieve particle to particle contact to form the electrically conductive layer without coalescing where although there may be grain boundaries between the contacting metal nanoparticles electrons can still tunnel through the boundaries leading to current flow heating may cause separation of the stabilizer and the liquid from the metal nanoparticles in the sense that the stabilizer and the liquid are generally not incorporated into the electrically conductive layer but if present are in a residual amount in embodiments heating may decompose a portion of the stabilizer to produce u201c decomposed stabilizer u201d heating may also cause separation of the decomposed stabilizer such that the decomposed stabilizer generally is not incorporated into the electrically conductive layer but if present is in a residual amount separation of the stabilizer the liquid and the decomposed stabilizer from the metal nanoparticles may lead to enhanced electrical conductivity of the electrically conductive layer since the presence of these components may reduce the extent of metal nanoparticle to metal nanoparticle contact or coalescence separation may occur in any manner such as for example a change in state of matter from a solid or liquid to a gas e g volatilization separation may also occur when any one or more of the stabilizer decomposed stabilizer.