Printing Conductive Nanomaterials for Flexible and Stretchable Electronics: A Review of Materials, Processes, and Applications
Qijin Huang,Yong Zhu +1 more
TLDR
In this article, a review of printable inks based on conductive nanomaterials is presented, which summarizes basic principles and recent development of common printing technologies, formulations of printed inks, deposition of conductive inks via different printing techniques, and performance enhancement by using various sintering methods.Abstract:
DOI: 10.1002/admt.201800546 manufacturing processes and relatively high production cost.[12,13] PE has been explored for the manufacturing of flexible and stretchable electronic devices by printing functional inks containing soluble or dispersed materials,[14–16] which has enabled a wide variety of applications, such as transparent conductive films (TCFs), flexible energy harvesting and storage, thin film transistors (TFTs), electroluminescent devices, and wearable sensors.[17–24] The global PE market should reach $26.6 billion by 2022 from $14.0 billion in 2017 at a compound annual growth rate of 13.6%.[25] PE devices are manufactured by a variety of printing technologies. Typical printing technologies can be divided into two broad categories: noncontact patterning (or nozzle-based patterning) and contact-based patterning. The noncontact techniques include inkjet printing, electrohydrodynamic (EHD) printing, aerosol jet printing, and slot die coating, while screen printing, gravure printing, and flexographic printing are examples of the contact techniques. Each of these techniques has its own advantages and disadvantages, but they all rely on the principle of transferring inks to a substrate. Understanding the characteristics and recent advances of each printing technique is important to further the progress in PE. Moreover, to promote the lab-scale printing technologies to large-scale production process, roll-toroll (R2R) printing, which is one of the manufacturing methods to obtain large-area films with low cost and excellent durability, has drawn much attention from both industry and the research community. Nearly all of devices based on PE require conductive structures, interconnects, and contacts; therefore, highly conductive patterns, usually with high transparency and/or high resolution, fabricated by means of printing conductive materials are one of the most critical components in PE devices. Various printable conductive nanomaterials, such as metal nanomaterials (e.g., metal nanoparticles and metal nanowires) and carbon nanomaterials (e.g., graphene and carbon nanotubes (CNTs)), have been explored and used as major materials for PE. Applying printing technology to deposition of the conductive nanomaterials requires formulation of suitable inks. After depositing inks on different substrates, post-printing treatment, Printed electronics is attracting a great deal of attention in both research and commercialization as it enables fabrication of large-scale, low-cost electronic devices on a variety of substrates. Printed electronics plays a critical role in facilitating widespread flexible electronics and more recently stretchable electronics. Conductive nanomaterials, such as metal nanoparticles and nanowires, carbon nanotubes, and graphene, are promising building blocks for printed electronics. Nanomaterial-based printing technologies, formulation of printable inks, post-printing treatment, and integration of functional devices have progressed substantially in the recent years. This review summarizes basic principles and recent development of common printing technologies, formulations of printable inks based on conductive nanomaterials, deposition of conductive inks via different printing techniques, and performance enhancement by using various sintering methods. While this review places emphasis on conductive nanomaterials, the printing techniques and ink formulations can be applied to other materials such as semiconducting and insulating nanomaterials. Moreover, some applications of printed flexible and stretchable electronic devices are reviewed to illustrate their potential. Finally, the future challenges and prospects for printing conductive nanomaterials are discussed.read more
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
A review of aerosol jet printing—a non-traditional hybrid process for micro-manufacturing
TL;DR: An overview of the underlying principles of AJP are summarized, applications of the technology are reviewed, and where gains may be realised are hypothesised through this assistive manufacturing process.
Journal ArticleDOI
Organic field-effect transistor-based flexible sensors
Saravanan Yuvaraja,Ali Nawaz,Qian Liu,Deepak P. Dubal,Sandeep G. Surya,Khaled N. Salama,Prashant Sonar +6 more
TL;DR: This review focuses on the advancements of using organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) in flexible electronic applications in the past 10 years, and introduces organic semiconductors (OSCs), followed by their applications in various device configurations and their mechanisms.
Journal ArticleDOI
Nanomaterial-Enabled Flexible and Stretchable Sensing Systems: Processing, Integration, and Applications
Shanshan Yao,Ping Ren,Runqiao Song,Yuxuan Liu,Qijin Huang,Jingyan Dong,Brendan O'Connor,Yong Zhu +7 more
TL;DR: An overview of the design and integration strategies and manufacturing techniques for nanomaterial‐enabled flexible and stretchable sensing systems and representative applications in personal health, fitness tracking, electronic skins, artificial nervous systems, and human–machine interactions are provided.
Journal ArticleDOI
Deep learning enabled smart mats as a scalable floor monitoring system
Qiongfeng Shi,Zixuan Zhang,Tianyiyi He,Zhongda Sun,Bingjie Wang,Yuqin Feng,Xuechuan Shan,Xuechuan Shan,Budiman Salam,Budiman Salam,Chengkuo Lee +10 more
TL;DR: A smart floor monitoring system through the integration of self-powered triboelectric floor mats and deep learning-based data analytics is shown, establishing the foundation using floor as the functional interface for diverse applications in smart building/home, e.g., intelligent automation, healthcare, and security.
Journal ArticleDOI
Natural Biopolymer-Based Biocompatible Conductors for Stretchable Bioelectronics.
TL;DR: A comprehensive review of the recent advances in biocompatible conductors based on natural biopolymers for stretchable bioelectronics can be found in this article, where the authors discuss the electronic component-biopolymer interface and bioelectronic-biological tissue (skin and internal tissues) interface.
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