Hassan Rizwan Ul, Khalil Shaheer Mohiuddin, Khan Saeed Ahmed, Ali Shahzaib, Moon Joonkyeong, Cho Dae-Hyun, Byun Doyoung
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 16419, Korea.
Department of Electrical Engineering, Sukkur IBA University, Sukkur 79165, Pakistan.
Polymers (Basel). 2022 Oct 17;14(20):4373. doi: 10.3390/polym14204373.
In the field of soft electronics, high-resolution and transparent structures based on various flexible materials constructed via various printing techniques are gaining attention. With the support of electrical stress-induced conductive inks, the electrohydrodynamic (EHD) jet printing technique enables us to build high-resolution structures compared with conventional inkjet printing techniques. Here, EHD jet printing was used to fabricate a high-resolution, transparent, and flexible strain sensor using a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)/xylene elastomer, where repetitive and controllable high-resolution printed mesh structures were obtained. The parametric effects of voltage, flow rate, nozzle distance from the substrate, and speed were experimentally investigated to achieve a high-resolution (5 µm) printed mesh structure. Plasma treatment was performed to enhance the adhesion between the AgNWs and the elastomer structure. The plasma-treated functional structure exhibited stable and long strain-sensing cycles during stretching and bending. This simple printing technique resulted in high-resolution, transparent, flexible, and stable strain sensing. The gauge factor of the strain sensor was significantly increased, owing to the high resolution and sensitivity of the printed mesh structures, demonstrating that EHD technology can be applied to high-resolution microchannels, 3D printing, and electronic devices.
在软电子领域，通过各种印刷技术构建的基于各种柔性材料的高分辨率透明结构正受到关注。在电应力诱导导电油墨的支持下，与传统喷墨印刷技术相比，电液动力（EHD）喷射印刷技术使我们能够构建高分辨率结构。在此，利用EHD喷射印刷技术，使用聚二甲基硅氧烷（PDMS）/二甲苯弹性体制备了一种高分辨率、透明且柔性的应变传感器，获得了重复性好且可控的高分辨率印刷网格结构。通过实验研究了电压、流速、喷嘴与基底的距离以及速度等参数的影响，以实现高分辨率（5 µm）的印刷网格结构。进行了等离子体处理以增强银纳米线（AgNWs）与弹性体结构之间的附着力。经等离子体处理的功能结构在拉伸和弯曲过程中表现出稳定且长的应变传感循环。这种简单的印刷技术实现了高分辨率、透明、柔性且稳定的应变传感。由于印刷网格结构的高分辨率和灵敏度，应变传感器的应变片系数显著提高，这表明EHD技术可应用于高分辨率微通道、3D打印和电子器件。
