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Printing of flexible electronic circuits on elastic materials and fabrics

18.04.2015

Researchers at Purdue University in the US have developed a method for printing flexible and stretchable electrical conductors on virtually any surface, including elastic materials and fabrics. The method makes it easy to master production on an industrial scale.

To apply conductive circuits to an elastic material, a group of scientists led by John William Boley, Ph.D., used a conventional inkjet printer, but instead of ink, they placed a suspension of metal particles in the cartridge.

The suspension was prepared by the destruction of "liquid metal" (liquid metal). The microparticles of the material obtained as a result of destruction were placed in ethanol, and the resulting mixture was whipped into suspension under the action of ultrasound.

“Liquid metal itself cannot be printed. So we turned it into a slurry that easily passes through the nozzles of the print head,” said Rebecca Kramer, one of the participants in the study. “And now we can apply flexible circuits to almost anything whatever."

After applying the suspension to the material, the ethanol evaporates, and only "liquid metal" particles remain on it.

However, the resulting printed circuit does not conduct current. In order for it to become conductive, it must be "activated", put pressure on it so that the particles of the "liquid metal" stick together with each other. This opens up certain possibilities for the manufacturer: he can create one circuit template and give the circuit different functionality in different products, activating only some of its sections, while leaving the rest non-conductive.

The researchers believe that the new method will make it easy to print electronic circuits on clothes and create new types of wearable devices, and will also find application in robotics - to create humanoid machines. "Conductors made from 'liquid metal' can stretch and deform without breaking," Kramer said.

The researchers did not explain how they propose to apply electronic components to elastic materials.

Going forward, the research team plans to investigate whether and how the conductance of liquid-metal flex circuits is affected by the substrate material they are applied to. And also invent a technology for automatically activating the circuit after it is printed.

We add that flexible electronics has been of interest to engineers for a long time. In 2009, scientists from the US and Germany developed a new type of semiconductor ink that can be applied to a product using a special inkjet printer.

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