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Hybrid Printing for the Fabrication of Smart Sensors
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Inflight fiber printing toward array and 3D optoelectronic and sensing architectures
Wenyu Wang1,2, Karim Ouaras1,2, Alexandra L Rutz1
1Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1PZ, UK.
Science Advances
|October 1, 2020
Summary
Inflight fiber printing (iFP) enables direct fabrication and connection of tiny conducting fibers. This innovation facilitates advanced 3D devices for sensing and optoelectronics.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Nanotechnology
- Electrical Engineering
Background:
- Scalability and device integration are key challenges for small-diameter conducting fibers.
- Existing methods often struggle with seamless integration of fiber production and circuit connection.
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce inflight fiber printing (iFP) as a novel one-step process for fabricating and connecting conducting fibers.
- To demonstrate the application of iFP-fabricated fibers in advanced sensing and optoelectronic devices.
Main Methods:
- Fabrication of 1- to 3-μm diameter inorganic (silver) or organic {poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate} (PEDOT:PSS) fibers using iFP.
- Characterization of fiber arrays for transmittance and exploitation of high surface area-to-volume ratio.
- Construction of sensing and optoelectronic architectures using the fabricated fiber arrays.
Main Results:
- iFP successfully produced conducting fibers with diameters of 1-3 μm.
- Fiber arrays exhibited over 95% transmittance in the 350-750 nm range.
- Demonstrated PEDOT:PSS fibers as cell-interfaced impedimetric sensors, 3D moisture flow sensors, and wearable respiratory sensors.
Conclusions:
- iFP offers a scalable and integrated solution for conducting fiber fabrication and device connection.
- The developed fiber arrays are suitable for diverse sensing and optoelectronic applications, including 3D devices.
- This approach enables additive manufacturing of functional 3D fiber-based devices with enhanced performance.
