Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Aerosol printing and photonic sintering of bioresorbable zinc nanoparticle ink for transient electronics manufacturing

  • Research Paper
  • Published:
Science China Information Sciences Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Bioresorbable electronics technology can potentially lead to revolutionary applications in healthcare, consumer electronics, and data security. This technology has been demonstrated by various functional devices. However, majority of these devices are realized by CMOS fabrication approaches involving complex and time-consuming processes that are high in cost and low in yield. Printing electronics technology represents a series of printing and post processing techniques that hold promise to make high performance bioresorbable electronics devices. But investigation of printing approaches for bioresorbable electronics is very limited. Here we demonstrate fabrication of conductive bioresorbable patterns using aerosol printing and photonic sintering approaches. Experimental results and simulation reveals that ink compositions, photonic energy, film thickness, and ventilation conditions may influence the effect of photonic sintering. A maximum conductivity of 22321.3 S/m can be achieved using 1 flash with energy of 25.88 J/cm2 with duration of 2 ms. By combining two cascaded sintering procedures using flash light and laser further improve the conductivity to 34722.2 S/m. The results indicate that aerosol printing and photonic sintering can potentially yield mass fabrication of bioresorbable electronics, leading to prevalence of printable bioresorbable technology in consumer electronics and biomedical devices.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Huang X, Liu Y, Cheng H, et al. Biomedical sensors: materials and designs for wireless epidermal sensors of hydration and strain. Adv Funct Mater, 2014, 24: 3845–3845

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Huang X, Liu Y, Hwang S W, et al. Biodegradable materials for multilayer transient printed circuit boards. Adv Mater, 2014, 26: 7371–7377

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Hwang S W, Tao H, Kim D H, et al. A physically transient form of silicon electronics. Science, 2012, 337: 1640–1644

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Hwang S W, Huang X, Seo J H, et al. Materials for bioresorbable radio frequency electronics. Adv Mater, 2013, 25: 3526–3531

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Dagdeviren C, Hwang S W, Su Y, et al. Transient, biocompatible electronics and energy harvesters based on ZnO. Small, 2013, 9: 3398–3404

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Cavusoglu T, Yavuzer R, Basterzi Y, et al. Resorbable plate-screw systems: clinical applications. Ulus Travma Acil Cerrahi Derg, 2005, 11: 43–48

    Google Scholar 

  7. Farra R, Sheppard N F, Mc Cabe L, et al. First-in-human testing of a wirelessly controlled drug delivery microchip. Sci Translational Med, 2012, 4: 122ra21

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Lee C H, Kang S K, Salvatore G A, et al. Wireless microfluidic systems for programmed, functional transformation of transient electronic devices. Adv Funct Mater, 2015, 25: 5100–5106

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Kim B H, Kim J H, Persano L, et al. Dry transient electronic systems by use of materials that sublime. Adv Funct Mater, 2017, 27: 1606008

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Sim K, Wang X, Li Y, et al. Destructive electronics from electrochemical-mechanically triggered chemical dissolution. J Micromech Microeng, 2017, 27: 065010

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Lee C H, Jeong J W, Liu Y, et al. Materials and wireless microfluidic systems for electronics capable of chemical dissolution on demand. Adv Funct Mater, 2015, 25: 1338–1343

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Pardo D A, Jabbour G E, Peyghambarian N. Application of screen printing in the fabrication of organic light-emitting devices. Adv Mater, 2000, 12: 1249–1252

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Tekin E, Smith P J, Schubert U S. Inkjet printing as a deposition and patterning tool for polymers and inorganic particles. Soft Matter, 2008, 4: 703–713

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Gu X, Zhou Y, Gu K, et al. Roll-to-roll printed large-area all-polymer solar cells with 5% efficiency based on a low crystallinity conjugated polymer blend. Adv Energy Mater, 2017, 7: 1–13

    Google Scholar 

  15. Saleh E, Zhang F, He Y, et al. 3D inkjet printing of electronics using UV conversion. Adv Mater Technol, 2017, 2: 1700134

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Ko S H, Pan H, Grigoropoulos C P, et al. All-inkjet-printed flexible electronics fabrication on a polymer substrate by low-temperature high-resolution selective laser sintering of metal nanoparticles. Nanotechnology, 2007, 18: 345202

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Yu X, Mahajan B, Shuo W, et al. Materials, mechanics, and patterning techniques for elastomer-based stretchable conductors. Micromachine, 2017, 8: 7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Jones C S, Lu X, Renn M, et al. Aerosol-jet-printed, high-speed, flexible thin-film transistor made using single-walled carbon nanotube solution. Microelectron Eng, 2010, 87: 434–437

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Sirringhaus H, Kawase T, Friend R H, et al. High-resolution inkjet printing of all-polymer transistor circuits. Science, 2000, 290: 2123–2126

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Kopola P, Zimmermann B, Filipovic A, et al. Aerosol jet printed grid for ITO-free inverted organic solar cells. Sol Energy Mater Sol Cells, 2012, 107: 252–258

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Chen H Y, Hou J, Zhang S, et al. Polymer solar cells with enhanced open-circuit voltage and efficiency. Nat Photon, 2009, 3: 649–653

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Xu B L, Zhao Y, Yu L K, et al. Aerosol jet printing on radio frequency identification tag applications. Key Eng Mater, 2013, 562–565: 1417–1421

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. van Osch T H J, Perelaer J, de Laat A W M, et al. Inkjet printing of narrow conductive tracks on untreated polymeric substrates. Adv Mater, 2008, 2: 343–345

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Zhao D, Liu T, Zhang M, et al. Fabrication and characterization of aerosol-jet printed strain sensors for multifunctional composite structures. Smart Mater Struct, 2012, 21: 115008

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Lee H H, Chou K S, Huang K C. Inkjet printing of nanosized silver colloids. Nanotechnology, 2005, 16: 2436–2441

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Sekine C, Tsubata Y, Yamada T, et al. Recent progress of high performance polymer OLED and OPV materials for organic printed electronics. Sci Tech Adv Mater, 2014, 15: 034203

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Singh M, Haverinen H M, Dhagat P, et al. Inkjet printing-process and its applications. Adv Mater, 2010, 22: 673–685

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Shou W, Mahajan B K, Ludwig B, et al. Low-cost manufacturing of bioresorbable conductors by evaporationcondensation-mediated laser printing and sintering of zn nanoparticles. Adv Mater, 2017, 29: 1–7

    Google Scholar 

  29. Hwang S W, Kim D H, Tao H, et al. Materials and fabrication processes for transient and bioresorbable highperformance electronics. Adv Funct Mater, 2013, 23: 4087–4093

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Taylor S L, Jakus A E, Shah R N, et al. Iron and nickel cellular structures by sintering of 3D-printed oxide or metallic particle inks?. Adv Eng Mater, 2017, 19: 1600365

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Jakus A E, Taylor S L, Geisendorfer N R, et al. Metallic architectures from 3D-printed powder-based liquid inks. Adv Funct Mater, 2015, 25: 6985–6995

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Mahajan B K, Yu X, Shou W, et al. Mechanically milled irregular zinc nanoparticles for printable bioresorbable electronics. Small, 2017, 13: 1700065

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Ludwig B, Zheng Z, Shou W, et al. Solvent-free manufacturing of electrodes for lithium-ion batteries. Sci Rep, 2016, 6: 23150

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Shukla A K, Neergat M, Bera P, et al. An XPS study on binary and ternary alloys of transition metals with platinized carbon and its bearing upon oxygen electroreduction in direct methanol fuel cells. J Electroanal Chem, 2001, 504: 111–119

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Li X. Influence of substrate temperature on the orientation and optical properties of sputtered ZnO films. Mater Lett, 2003, 57: 4655–4659

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Mukherjee S, Ramalingam B, Gangopadhyay S. Hydrogen spillover at sub-2 nm Pt nanoparticles by electrochemical hydrogen loading. J Mater Chem A, 2014, 2: 3954–3960

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Pal B N, Chakravorty D. Pattern formation of zinc nanoparticles in silica film by electrodeposition. J Phys Chem B, 2006, 110: 20917–20921

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Yatsimirskii K B, Nemoskalenko V V, Aleshin V G, et al. X-ray photoelectron spectra of mixed oxygenated cobalt(II)-amino acid-imidazole complexes. Chem Phys Lett, 1977, 52: 481–484

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Bang S, Lee S, Ko Y, et al. Photocurrent detection of chemically tuned hierarchical ZnO nanostructures grown on seed layers formed by atomic layer deposition. Nanoscale Res Lett, 2012, 7: 290

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Lee Y K, Kim J, Kim Y, et al. Room temperature electrochemical sintering of Zn microparticles and its use in printable conducting inks for bioresorbable electronics. Adv Mater, 2017, 29: 1702665

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was supported financially by Interdisciplinary Intercampus Funding Program (IDIC) of University of Missouri System, University of Missouri Research Board (UMRB), Intelligent System Center (ISC) and Material Research Center (MRC) at Missouri University of Science and Technology. This work was also partially supported by National Science Foundation of USA (Grant No. 1363313) and ORAU Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award. Xian HUANG acknowledges the support of the National 1000 Talent Program. This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 61604108) and Natural Science Foundation of Tianjin (Grant No. 16JCYBJC40600). The authors would like to thank Mr. Brian Porter for help with XPS measurements.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla, MO, 65401, USA

    Bikram Kishore Mahajan, Brandon Ludwig, Wan Shou, Xiaowei Yu & Heng Pan

  2. Department of Material Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA

    Emmanuel Fregene

  3. Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China

    Hang Xu & Xian Huang

Authors
  1. Bikram Kishore Mahajan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Brandon Ludwig
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Wan Shou
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Xiaowei Yu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Emmanuel Fregene
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Hang Xu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Heng Pan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Xian Huang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Heng Pan or Xian Huang.

Electronic supplementary material

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Mahajan, B.K., Ludwig, B., Shou, W. et al. Aerosol printing and photonic sintering of bioresorbable zinc nanoparticle ink for transient electronics manufacturing. Sci. China Inf. Sci. 61, 060412 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11432-018-9366-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11432-018-9366-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation