Handwritten, Soft Circuit Boards and Antennas Using Liquid Metal Nanoparticles

Yiliang Lin; Christopher Cooper; Meng Wang; Jacob J Adams; Jan Genzer; Michael D Dickey

doi:10.1002/smll.201502692

Handwritten, Soft Circuit Boards and Antennas Using Liquid Metal Nanoparticles

Small. 2015 Dec 22;11(48):6397-403. doi: 10.1002/smll.201502692. Epub 2015 Nov 16.

Authors

Yiliang Lin¹, Christopher Cooper¹, Meng Wang², Jacob J Adams², Jan Genzer¹, Michael D Dickey¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, 27695-7905, USA.
² Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, 27695-7911, USA.

PMID: 26568095
DOI: 10.1002/smll.201502692

Abstract

Soft conductors are created by embedding liquid metal nanoparticles between two elastomeric sheets. Initially, the particles form an electrically insulating composite. Soft circuit boards can be handwritten by a stylus, which sinters the particles into conductive traces by applying localized mechanical pressure to the elastomeric sheets. Antennas with tunable frequencies are formed by sintering nanoparticles in microchannels.

Keywords: circuit boards; handwritten circuits; liquid metals; mechanical sintering; nanoparticles; soft circuit boards.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.