The fabrication of flexible electronic devices has new technology or broad application prospects

On January 4, the reporter learned from the University of science and technology of China (hereinafter referred to as the University of science and technology of China) that the Zhaogang research group of the school of information of the University proposed a new flexible electronic device preparation technology combining nanofiber electrospinning and liquid metal template printing. Relevant research results were recently published in the international journal ACS Nano.

With the rapid development of the Internet of things, simple flexible electronic devices can not meet the increasingly complex application scenarios. Therefore, it is urgent to research and develop multi-functional and highly integrated flexible electronic systems. At present, materials and manufacturing technology are still the main factors restricting the development and commercialization of flexible electronics, because in the manufacturing process of flexible electronic equipment, researchers should not only consider its physical, chemical and functional characteristics, but also consider the comfort and safety of users. At the same time, the increasingly severe environmental and energy problems have also brought great challenges to the development of human society. The recyclability, self-healing and reconfigurability of electronic devices have also become the key issues that developers need to consider. Flexible electronic devices obtained through traditional materials and manufacturing processes often can not take into account the above performance at the same time, and the manufacturing process usually requires expensive equipment, complex steps, high standard operating environment and specified material characteristics. Limited by these factors, the large-scale integration and packaging of flexible electronics and the manufacturing of multilayer flexible electronic devices are still a thorny problem.

In response to the above challenges, the Zhaogang research group of School of information, University of science and technology of China proposed a simple, fast and green flexible electronic device preparation technology. Thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) nanofiber films were obtained by electrospinning technology as flexible substrates, and then liquid metal (LM) patterned circuits were constructed on the substrates by template printing. In addition, flexible circuits, resistors, capacitors, inductors and their composite devices can be parametrically prepared by layer by layer assembly strategy. The flexible electronic devices fabricated by this scheme have excellent stretchability, permeability and stability, and they are multilayer and reconfigurable.