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Pulsed light sintering of silver nanoparticles for large deformation of printed stretchable electronics

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Abstract

Growth of printed electronics has increased the interest in the nanoparticle inks. Research on flexible electronics has expanded not only due to inherent benefits of producing flexible products but also for its high-throughput manufacturability, such as roll-to-toll (R2R) process. Conventional sintering methods cause microcracks and voids in the sintered nanoink film, which lead to subpar performance, and are not suitable for the high-throughput R2R production. Furthermore, these methods are incompatible with many polymer substrates used in flexible electronics due to their low thermal budget. In this study, we present an alternative method utilizing an intense pulsed light (IPL) with a xenon flash lamp to sinter silver nanoink on a polymer substrate. The IPL method is capable of selectively sintering the silver nanoink in milliseconds without damaging the polymer substrates. The silver nanoink was stencil printed on a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) specimen. Samples were prepared using five different sintering conditions and tested under uniaxial strain. Three IPL sintering conditions were compared against a non-sintered (NS) and an oven-sintered (OS) conditions. The IPL-sintered samples show a significant improvement in tensile test over NS and OS samples. Samples sintered at 20 J/cm2 of flash energy density and 10 ms of duration were stretched up to 27% strain before losing electrical conductivity. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) confirms these results showing a reduction in porosity of the sintered nanoink as compared to NS and OS samples.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the IU Nanoscale Characterization Facility for access and use to their instrumentation. We would also like to acknowledge the Integrated Nanosystems Development Institute (INDI) for use of their JEOL SEM 7800F which was awarded through the NSF grant MRI-1229514.

Funding

This research was supported by the faculty startup grant by Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis and Summer Faculty Fellowship from the US Air Force Office of Scientific Research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis, 723 W Michigan St. Suite SL260, Indianapolis, IN, 46202, USA

    Akash Shankar, Eduardo Salcedo, Aaron Berndt & Jong Eun Ryu

  2. Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, Abu Dhabi, 54224, United Arab Emirates

    Daniel Choi

  3. Integrated Nanosystems Development Institute, Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN, 46202, USA

    Jong Eun Ryu

Authors
  1. Akash Shankar
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  2. Eduardo Salcedo
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  3. Aaron Berndt
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  4. Daniel Choi
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  5. Jong Eun Ryu
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Correspondence to Jong Eun Ryu.

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Shankar, A., Salcedo, E., Berndt, A. et al. Pulsed light sintering of silver nanoparticles for large deformation of printed stretchable electronics. Adv Compos Hybrid Mater 1, 193–198 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42114-017-0012-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42114-017-0012-3

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