Guo Rui, Li Tianyu, Wu Ziyue, Wan Chunxue, Niu Jing, Huo Wenxing, Yu Haixia, Huang Xian
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tianjin University, 92 Weijin Road, Tianjin 300072, China.
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2022 Aug 17;14(32):37028-37038. doi: 10.1021/acsami.2c08743. Epub 2022 Aug 7.
Low-cost, rapid patterning of liquid metal on various substrates is a key processing step for liquid metal-based soft electronics. Current patterning methods rely on expensive equipment and specific substrates, which severely limit their widespread applications. Based on surface adhesion adjustment of liquid metal through thermal transferring toner patterns, we present a universal printing technique of liquid metal circuits. Without using any expensive processing steps or equipment, the circuit patterns can be printed quickly on thermal transfer paper using a desktop laser printer, and a toner on the thermal transfer paper can be transferred to various smooth substrates and polymer-coated rough substrates. The technique has yielded liquid metal circuits with a minimum linewidth of 50 μm fabricated on various smooth, rough, and three-dimensional substrates with complex morphology. The liquid metal circuits can maintain their functions even under an extreme strain of 800%. Various circuits such as LED arrays, multiple sensors, a flexible display, a heating circuit, a radiofrequency identification circuit, and a 12-lead electrocardiogram circuit on various substrates have been demonstrated, indicating the great potential of such a technique to rapidly achieve large-area flexible circuits for wearable health monitoring, internet of things, and consumer electronics at low cost and high efficiency.
在各种基板上低成本、快速地对液态金属进行图案化是基于液态金属的柔性电子学的关键加工步骤。当前的图案化方法依赖于昂贵的设备和特定的基板，这严重限制了它们的广泛应用。基于通过热转印碳粉图案对液态金属的表面附着力进行调整，我们提出了一种液态金属电路的通用印刷技术。无需任何昂贵的加工步骤或设备，电路图案可以使用桌面激光打印机在热转印纸上快速打印，并且热转印纸上的碳粉可以转移到各种光滑基板和聚合物涂层的粗糙基板上。该技术已在各种具有复杂形态的光滑、粗糙和三维基板上制造出了最小线宽为50μm的液态金属电路。即使在800%的极端应变下，液态金属电路仍能保持其功能。已经展示了在各种基板上的各种电路，如LED阵列、多个传感器、柔性显示器、加热电路、射频识别电路和12导联心电图电路，表明这种技术在低成本、高效率地快速实现用于可穿戴健康监测、物联网和消费电子产品的大面积柔性电路方面具有巨大潜力。
