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Nanotube-Enhanced Aerosol-Jet Printed Electronics for Embedded Sensing of Composite Structural Health

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2012

Da Zhao
Affiliation:
Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, Florida A & M University-Florida State University College of Engineering, & High-Performance Materials Institute, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32310, U.S.A.
Tao Liu
Affiliation:
Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, Florida A & M University-Florida State University College of Engineering, & High-Performance Materials Institute, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32310, U.S.A.
Mei Zhang
Affiliation:
Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, Florida A & M University-Florida State University College of Engineering, & High-Performance Materials Institute, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32310, U.S.A.
Jen-Ming Chen
Affiliation:
Institute of Industrial Management, National Central University, Jhongli City, Taiwan, 32001
Ben Wang
Affiliation:
Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, Florida A & M University-Florida State University College of Engineering, & High-Performance Materials Institute, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32310, U.S.A.
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Abstract

Innovative printing technology enables fine feature deposition (below 10μm) of electronic materials onto low-temperature, non-planar substrates without masks. This could be a promising technology to meet the requirements of present and future microelectronic systems. Silver nanoparticles (NP) ink is widely used for printed electronics; however, its electrical conductivity is low compared to bulk materials. In order to improve the electrical conductivity of printed tracks for the aerosol printing technique, we developed a novel carbon nanotubes (CNTs)/silver NP ink by mechanical stirring and sonication. The produced sample inks with different concentration of CNTs that were printed with Aerosol Jet® printing system. We found that the CNTs bridged the defects in some printed silver lines, thereby lowering the electrical resistivity by 38%. However, no further improvements were observed with a higher CNT concentration in the silver NP ink samples. We hypothesize that CNT bridges connects the defects thus decreasing the resistivity of printed silver lines when CNT concentration is under the percolation level. However, when it is above a concentration threshold, the resistivity of printed silver lines stops decreasing and even increases because of Schottky barrier effect.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2012

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References

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