Roll-to-roll manufacturing systems have been widely adopted for their cost-effectiveness, eco-friendliness, and mass-production capabilities, utilizing thin and flexible substrates. However, in these systems, defects in the rotating components such as the rollers and bearings can result in severe defects in the functional layers. Therefore, the development of an intelligent diagnostic model is crucial for effectively identifying these rotating component defects.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAn ultra-wideband electromagnetic (EM) absorber is proposed. The proposed absorber consists of two thin metasurfaces, four dielectric layers, a glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP), and a carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) which works as a conductive reflector. The thin metasurfaces are accomplished with 1-bit pixelated patterns and optimized by a genetic algorithm.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAttempts have been made to introduce microstructures or wrinkles into the elastomer surface to increase the sensitivity of the elastomer. However, the disadvantage of this method is that when a force is applied to the pressure sensor, the contact area with the electrode is changed and the linear response characteristic of the pressure sensor is reduced. The biggest advantage of the capacitive pressure sensor using an elastomer is that it is a characteristic that changes linearly according to the change in pressure, so it is not suitable to introduce microstructures or wrinkles into the elastomer surface.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMicro- and nanofabrication on polymer substrate is integral to the development of flexible electronic devices, including touch screens, transparent conductive electrodes, organic photovoltaics, batteries, and wearable devices. The demand for flexible and wearable devices has spurred interest in large-area, high-throughput production methods. Roll-to-roll (R2R) nanoimprint lithography (NIL) is a promising technique for producing nano-scale patterns rapidly and continuously.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA roll-to-roll manufacturing system performs printing and coating on webs to mass-produce large-area functional films. The functional film of a multilayered structure is composed of layers with different components for performance improvement. The roll-to-roll system is capable of controlling the geometries of the coating and printing layers using process variables.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPolymers (Basel)
January 2023
The roll-to-roll manufacturing system is extensively used for mass producing products made of plastic, paper, and fabric in several traditional industries. When flexible substrates, also known as webs, are heated and transported inside the dryer, an inconsistent temperature distribution occurs on the material in the machine direction (MD) and cross-machine direction (CMD). If rollers are not aligned in parallel on the same plane in the roll-to-roll web handling process, or if roller misalignment exists, strain deviation occurs in the web, resulting in lateral displacement and web wrinkles.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAn ultrawideband electromagnetic metamaterial absorber is proposed that consists of double-layer metapatterns optimally designed by the genetic algorithm and printed using carbon paste. By setting the sheet resistance of the intermediate carbon metapattern to a half of that of the top one, it is possible to find an optimal intermediate metapattern that reflects and absorbs the EM wave simultaneously. By adding an absorption resonance via a constructive interference at the top metapattern induced by the reflection from the intermediate one, an ultrawideband absorption can be achieved without increasing the number of layers.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRecently, the demand for stretchable strain sensors used for detecting human motion is rapidly increasing. This paper proposes high-performance strain sensors based on Ag flake/Ag nanocrystal (NC) hybrid materials incorporated into a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) elastomer. The addition of Ag NCs into an Ag flake network enhances the electrical conductivity and sensitivity of the strain sensors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA bio-compatible disposable organic humidity sensor has been fabricated that can be transferred to any arbitrary target surface. Single cell thick onion membrane has been used as the substrate while it also doubles as the active layer of the sensor. Two different types of sensors were fabricated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn printed electronics technology, the overlay accuracy of printed patterns is a very important issue when applying printing technology to the production of electric devices. In order to achieve accurate positioning of the printed patterns, this study proposes a novel precision reverse offset printing system. Furthermore, the study evaluates the effects of synchronization and printing force on position errors of the printed patterns, and presents methods of controlling synchronization and printing force so as to eliminate positional errors caused by the above-mentioned reasons.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis article presents the non-vacuum technique for the preparation of nanostructured zinc oxide (ZnO) thin film on glass substrate through electrohydrodynamic atomization (EHDA) technique. The detailed process parameters for achieving homogeneous ZnO thin films are clearly discussed. The crystallinity and surface morphology of ZnO thin film are investigated by X-ray diffraction and field emission scanning electron microscopy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSelf-aggregated Li4Ti5O12 particles sandwiched between graphene nanosheets (GNSs) and single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) network are reported as new hybrid electrodes for high power Li-ion batteries. The multi-layer electrodes are fabricated by sequential process comprising air-spray coating of GNSs layer and the following electrostatic spray (E-spray) coating of well-dispersed colloidal Li4Ti5O12 nanoparticles, and subsequent air-spray coating of SWCNTs layer once again. In multi-stacked electrodes of GNSs/nanoporous Li4Ti5O12 aggregates/SWCNTs networks, GNSs and SWCNTs serve as conducting bridges, effectively interweaving the nanoporous Li4Ti5O12 aggregates, and help achieve superior rate capability as well as improved mechanical stability of the composite electrode by holding Li4Ti5O12 tightly without a binder.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTo fabricate the highly conductive Al film via a solution process, AlH3 etherates have been a unique Al source despite their chemical instability in solvents and thus lack of long-term sustainability. Herein, we suggest an innovative solution process to overcome the aforementioned drawbacks in AlH3 etherates; AlH3 aminates powder, which can be stored in low temperature surroundings and redissolved in solvents whenever it is needed. Since refrigeration of AlH3 aminates, AlH3{N(CH3)3}, was very effective to prevent its chemical degradation, Al film with excellence and uniformity in electrical and mechanical properties was successfully fabricated even by the 180-day stored AlH3{N(CH3)3} dissolved in solvents.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn this article, we report a non-vacuum electrohydrodynamic atomization (EHDA) technique for deposition of CulnSe2 (CIS) thin films. The CIS ink has been prepared with three different concentrations (7.5 wt.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFlexible thin film super-capacitors with the silver paste current collector were printed and their electrochemical characteristics were investigated to apply for a low cost solution-based printing process. The silver paste current collector was printed on a flexible Polyethylene Telephtalate (PET) substrate and the activated carbon electrode was printed in a sequence by using a mature screen printing. In experimental evaluation, three silver pastes with different solid contents were prepared and compared because sheet resistance depended on the thickness of the current collector.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis paper is focused on printed techniques for the fabrication of hybrid structure of silver (Ag) grid/poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene): Poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) on polyethylene terepthalate (PET) as a flexible substrate. Ag grid has been printed on PET substrate by using gravure offset printing process, followed by PEDOT:PSS thin film deposition on Ag grid through electrohydrodynamic atomization (EHDA) technique. The important parameters for achieving uniform hybrid structure of Ag grid/PEDOT:PSS through printed techniques have been clearly discussed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSemitransparent front electrodes for polymer solar cells, that are printable and roll-to-roll processable under ambient conditions using different approaches, are explored in this report. The excellent smoothness of indium-tin-oxide (ITO) electrodes has traditionally been believed to be difficult to achieve using printed front grids, as surface topographies accumulate when processing subsequent layers, leading to shunts between the top and bottom printed metallic electrodes. Here we demonstrate how aqueous nanoparticle based silver inks can be employed as printed front electrodes using several different roll-to-roll techniques.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn this paper, a novel design concept for roll-to-roll printing equipment used for manufacturing printed electronic devices by multi-layer printing is presented. The roll-to-roll printing system mainly consists of printing units for patterning the circuits, tension control components such as feeders, dancers, load cells, register measurement and control units, and the drying units. It has three printing units which allow switching among the gravure, gravure-offset, and flexo printing methods by changing the web path and the placements of the cylinders.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn this study, to fabricate a low-resistance and high optical transparent conductive electrode (TCE) film, the following steps were performed: the design and manufacture of an electroforming stamp mold, the fabrication of thermal-roll imprinted (TRI) poly-carbonate (PC) patterned films, the manufacture of high-conductivity and low-resistance Ag paste which was filled into patterned PC film using a doctor blade process and then coated with a thin film layer of conductive polymer by a spin coating process. As a result of these imprinting processes the PC films obtained a line width of 10 +/- 0.5 Mm, a channel length of 500 +/- 2 microm, and a pattern depth of 7.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe roll-printed gate, source, and drain electrodes of organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) were fabricated by gravure printing or gravure-offset printing using patterned poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) stamp with various channel lengths and low-resistance silver (Ag) pastes on flexible 150 x 150 mm2 plastic substrates. Bottom-contact roll-printed OTFTs used polyvinylphenol (PVP) as polymeric dielectric and bis(triisopropyl-silylethynyl) pentacene (TIPS-pentacene) as organic semiconductor; they were formed by spin coating or ink-jetting. Depending on the choice of roll-printing method, the printed OTFTs obtained had a field-effect mobility of between 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Nanosci Nanotechnol
October 2008
The contact electrodes of printed organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) were fabricated by direct printing using patterned hard poly(dimethylsiloxane) (h-PDMS) stamp with injection channel onto flexible poly(ethylenenaphthalate) (PEN) plastic substrates, wherein low-viscosity and low-resistance conductive nanoparticle silver (Ag) ink was injected. The source and drain electrodes (W/L = 500 microm/5 microm, 500 microm/10 microm, and 500 microm/20 microm) of printed OTFT were fabricated by direct printing. The printed OTFT with polyvinylphenol (PVP) as polymer dielectric layer was formed by spin coating and poly(3-hexylthiopene-2,5-dily) (P3HT) as organic semiconductor layer was ink-jet printing.
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