Selective photonic sintering of Ag flakes embedded in silicone elastomers to fabricate stretchable conductors

Youngsu Oh, In Seon Yoon, Chihak Lee, Sun Hong Kim, Byeong Kwon Ju, Jae Min Hong

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

36 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Stretchable conductors have recently attracted much attention because of rapid developments in wearable and deformable electronics. Conductors are one of the essential components of electronic devices. A photonic sintering process with intense pulsed light from a xenon lamp is used for sintering printed ink to fabricate conductors, without damaging the substrate. However, it is difficult to achieve the most desired properties such as high conductivity and mechanical stretchability in stretchable conductors fabricated by photonic sintering. Here, highly stretchable conductors are developed by the selective sintering of conductive materials embedded in silicone elastomers, overcoming this drawback. The conductors are composed of conductive Ag flakes and elastomeric Ecoflex. Photonic sintering generates conductive paths without damaging the transparent elastomer. As a result, a stretchability of 500% is achieved without the need for any structural designs. Furthermore, a wireless power transfer circuit incorporating the conductors was successfully applied to operate a light emitting diode wirelessly. This approach opens up the possibility of developing new types of stretchable and deformable electronics for future applications.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)11733-11740
Number of pages8
JournalJournal of Materials Chemistry C
Volume5
Issue number45
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2017

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was supported by Industrial Fundamental Technology Development Program of Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE)/Korea Evaluation Institute of Industrial Technology (KEIT) (Grant 10051162, Development of 3D-Deformable Multilayered FPCB Devices). We also acknowledge the financial support from internal project (Grant 2E27283) of Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 The Royal Society of Chemistry.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Chemistry(all)
  • Materials Chemistry

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