Researchers from Peredue Public University, which is located in the city of West Lafeett, Indiana, developed a unique inkjet printing technology using liquid metal nanoparticles. It can find its application in the production of flexible electronic circuits, which, in turn, are used in wearable electronics, robots and curved devices.
Creating a flexible electronic circuit means that many hard platforms can become flexible, thereby revealing a number of potential opportunities for electronic devices.
The essence of the new technology is that for printing inkjeted way it is proposed to use ink (rapidly groaning after printing) with conducting nanoparticles, the uniform distribution of which is ensured by the use of ultrasound. Flexible conductors can be “printed” on almost any surface.
Liquid metal in its initial state cannot be used for jet printing. Therefore, we decided to create nanoparticles from liquid metal. They are small enough to pass through jet nozzles. Ultrasound in a solvent, for example, in ethanol, disperses the nanoparticles contained in it. We can print schemes on any substrate. Ethanol evaporates after printing, after which only particles of liquid metal, — are preserved on the surface;Researchers report.
We add that so far a unique technology is new and requires improvement for use in mass production. Now the scientists’ team plans to explore the properties of various new ink and how they interact with the surface during and after printing. The results of the study will be published in the journal Advanced Materials this Saturday, April 18.