Selective laser sintering of inkjet-printed silver nanoparticle inks on paper substrates to achieve highly conductive patterns.

Development of cost-effective and environmentally friendly manufacturing methods will enable important advances for the production of large-scale flexible electronics. Laser processing has shown to be a promising candidate that offers a fast and non-destructive way to produce highly conductive patterns on flexible substrates such as plastics. However, an emerging option with a lower environmental impact is instead the use of cellulose-based flexible substrates, such as paper.

Photoconductivity of acid exfoliated and flash-light-processed MoS films.

MoS has been studied intensively during recent years as a semiconducting material in several fields, including optoelectronics, for applications such as solar cells and phototransistors. The photoresponse mechanisms of MoS have been discussed but are not fully understood, especially the phenomenon in which the photocurrent slowly increases. Here, we report on a study of the photoresponse flash-light-processed MoS films of different thicknesses and areas.

Review of recent research on flexible multifunctional nanopapers.

Traditional paper and papermaking have struggled with a declining market during the last few decades. However, the incorporation of nanotechnology into papermaking has brought possibilities to develop low-cost, biocompatible and flexible products with sophisticated functionalities. The functionality of nanopapers emerges from the intrinsic properties of the nanofibrous network, the additional loading of specific nanomaterials (NMs), or the additional deposition and patterning of thin films of nanomaterials on the paper surface.

Sintering Inhibition of Silver Nanoparticle Films via AgCl Nanocrystal Formation.

Electrically conductive films are key components in most printed and flexible electronics applications. For the solution processing of conductive films, inks containing silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) remain important because of their relatively easy processing and generally low resistivity after a sintering procedure. Because the commonly used, moderate sintering temperatures of 150-300 °C are still too high for most low-cost flexible substrates, expanding the knowledge of surface-ink interactions that affect the sintering temperature is desirable.

Inkjet Fabrication of Copper Patterns for Flexible Electronics: Using Paper with Active Precoatings.

Low-cost solution-processing of highly conductive films is important for the expanding market of printed electronics. For roll-to-roll manufacturing, suitable flexible substrates and compatible postprocessing are essential. Here, custom-developed coated papers are demonstrated to facilitate the inkjet fabrication of high performance copper patterns.

Soap-film coating: high-speed deposition of multilayer nanofilms.

The coating of thin films is applied in numerous fields and many methods are employed for the deposition of these films. Some coating techniques may deposit films at high speed; for example, ordinary printing paper is coated with micrometre-thick layers of clay at a speed of tens of meters per second. However, to coat nanometre thin films at high speed, vacuum techniques are typically required, which increases the complexity of the process.