Facile method for fabricating flexible substrates with embedded, printed silver lines.

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Nanotechnology
• Additive Manufacturing

Background:

• Flexible electronics require robust, high-performance conductive pathways.
• Traditional methods for embedding conductive lines can be complex and costly.
• Aerosol-jet printing offers high resolution but faces challenges in substrate adhesion and transfer.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a simple, scalable method for creating flexible substrates with embedded, printed silver lines.
• To demonstrate the efficacy of aerosol-jet printing for high-fidelity electrode transfer onto reactive polymers.
• To evaluate the electrical performance and mechanical robustness of the embedded silver electrodes.

Main Methods:

• Sequential process involving aerosol-jet printing of silver lines onto a donor substrate.
• Transfer of printed silver lines to a thin reactive polymer adhered to a flexible substrate.
• Curing and delamination steps to embed the silver lines.
• Electrical measurements and atomic force microscopy (AFM) for characterization.

Main Results:

• Achieved 100% transfer of aerosol-jet printed silver electrodes due to printing on low-energy surfaces.
• Reduced root-mean-square roughness of embedded electrodes to less than 10 nm.
• Demonstrated robust electrical performance of embedded electrodes after thousands of bending cycles.

Conclusions:

• The presented method is a simple and scalable approach for fabricating flexible substrates with embedded printed silver lines.
• The embedded electrodes exhibit excellent electrical properties and mechanical durability, suitable for flexible electronic devices.
• Aerosol-jet printing combined with reactive polymer transfer offers a promising route for advanced flexible electronics manufacturing.