scholarly journals Recent Advances in Natural Functional Biopolymers and Their Applications of Electronic Skins and Flexible Strain Sensors

Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 813
Author(s):  
Ziying Wang ◽  
Zongtao Ma ◽  
Jingyao Sun ◽  
Yuhua Yan ◽  
Miaomiao Bu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Flexible Electronics ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Electronic Waste ◽  
Electronic Devices ◽  
Strain Sensors ◽  
Functional Design ◽  
Nonrenewable Resources ◽  
Design Strategies ◽  
Flexible Sensors

In order to replace nonrenewable resources and decrease electronic waste disposal, there is a rapidly rising demand for the utilization of reproducible and degradable biopolymers in flexible electronics. Natural biopolymers have many remarkable characteristics, including light weight, excellent mechanical properties, biocompatibility, non-toxicity, low cost, etc. Thanks to these superior merits, natural functional biopolymers can be designed and optimized for the development of high-performance flexible electronic devices. Herein, we provide an insightful overview of the unique structures, properties and applications of biopolymers for electronic skins (e-skins) and flexible strain sensors. The relationships between properties and sensing performances of biopolymers-based sensors are also investigated. The functional design strategies and fabrication technologies for biopolymers-based flexible sensors are proposed. Furthermore, the research progresses of biopolymers-based sensors with various functions are described in detail. Finally, we provide some useful viewpoints and future prospects of developing biopolymers-based flexible sensors.

scholarly journals Biodegradable, Flexible, and Transparent Conducting Silver Nanowires/Polylactide Film with High Performance for Optoelectronic Devices

Polymers ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 604 ◽  
Author(s):  
Junjun Wang ◽  
Junsheng Yu ◽  
Dongyu Bai ◽  
Zhuobin Li ◽  
Huili Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heat Resistance ◽  
Flexible Electronics ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Silver Nanowires ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Electronic Waste ◽  
Hydrolytic Degradation ◽  
Optoelectronic Devices ◽  
Light Emitting ◽  
Transfer Method

As a synthetic renewable and biodegradable material, the application of polylactide (PLA) in the green flexible electronics has attracted intensive attention due to the increasingly serious issue of electronic waste. Unfortunately, the development of PLA-based optoelectronic devices is greatly hindered by the poor heat resistance and mechanical property of PLA. To overcome these limitations, herein, we report a facile and promising route to fabricate silver nanowires/PLA (AgNW/PLA) film with largely improved properties by utilizing the stereocomplex (SC) crystallization between poly(L-lactide) (PLLA) and poly(D-lactide) (PDLA). Through embedding the AgNW networks into the PLLA:PDLA blend matrix via a transfer method, the AgNW/PLLA:PDLA film with both high transparency and excellent conductivity was obtained. Compared with the AgNW/PLLA film, the formation of SC crystallites in the composites matrix could significantly enhance not only heat resistance but also mechanical strength of the AgNW/PLLA:PDLA film. Exceptionally, the AgNW/PLLA:PDLA film exhibited superior flexibility and could maintain excellent electrical conductivity stability even under the condition of 10,000 repeated bending cycles and 100 tape test cycles. In addition, the organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) with the AgNW/PLLA:PDLA films as electrodes were successfully fabricated in this work for the first time and they exhibited highly flexible, luminous, as well as hydrolytic degradation properties. This work could provide a low-cost and environment-friendly avenue towards fabricating high-performanced PLA-based biodegradable electronics.

Double-network hydrogel with adjustable surface morphology and multifunctional integration for flexible strain sensors

Soft Matter ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yang Yu ◽  
Fengjin Xie ◽  
Xinpei Gao ◽  
Liqiang Zheng
Keyword(s):  
Surface Morphology ◽  
Flexible Electronics ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Strain Sensors ◽  
Next Generation ◽  
Double Network ◽  
Conductive Hydrogels

The next generation of high-performance flexible electronics has put forward new demands to the development of ionic conductive hydrogels. In recent years, many efforts have been made toward developing double-network...

scholarly journals One-Step Laser Encapsulation of Nano-Cracking Strain Sensors

Sensors ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (8) ◽  
pp. 2673 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chan Park ◽  
Hyunsuk Jung ◽  
Hyunwoo Lee ◽  
Sunguk Hong ◽  
Hyonguk Kim ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Electronic Devices ◽  
Strain Sensors ◽  
Harsh Environments ◽  
Electrical Characteristics ◽  
Flexible Sensors ◽  
One Step ◽  
Wearable Electronic ◽  
Flexible Strain Sensor ◽  
Wearable Electronic Devices ◽  
Encapsulation Methods

Development of flexible strain sensors that can be attached directly onto the skin, such as skin-mountable or wearable electronic devices, has recently attracted attention. However, such flexible sensors are generally exposed to various harsh environments, such as sweat, humidity, or dust, which cause noise and shorten the sensor lifetimes. This study reports the development of a nano-crack-based flexible sensor with mechanically, thermally, and chemically stable electrical characteristics in external environments using a novel one-step laser encapsulation (OLE) method optimized for thin films. The OLE process allows simultaneous patterning, cutting, and encapsulating of a device using laser cutting and thermoplastic polymers. The processes are simplified for economical and rapid production (one sensor in 8 s). Unlike other encapsulation methods, OLE does not degrade the performance of the sensor because the sensing layers remain unaffected. Sensors protected with OLE exhibit mechanical, thermal, and chemical stability under water-, heat-, dust-, and detergent-exposed conditions. Finally, a waterproof, flexible strain sensor is developed to detect motions around the eye, where oil and sweat are generated. OLE-based sensors can be used in several applications that are exposed to a large amount of foreign matter, such as humid or sweaty environments.

scholarly journals Approaching high-performance potassium-ion batteries via advanced design strategies and engineering

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (5) ◽  
pp. eaav7412 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenchao Zhang ◽  
Yajie Liu ◽  
Zaiping Guo
Keyword(s):  
High Performance ◽  
Electrode Materials ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Potassium Ion ◽  
Operating Voltage ◽  
Design Strategies ◽  
Research Strategies ◽  
Practical Applications ◽  
Electrode Cell ◽  
Key Issues

Potassium-ion batteries (PIBs) have attracted tremendous attention due to their low cost, fast ionic conductivity in electrolyte, and high operating voltage. Research on PIBs is still in its infancy, however, and achieving a general understanding of the drawbacks of each component and proposing research strategies for overcoming these problems are crucial for the exploration of suitable electrode materials/electrolytes and the establishment of electrode/cell assembly technologies for further development of PIBs. In this review, we summarize our current understanding in this field, classify and highlight the design strategies for addressing the key issues in the research on PIBs, and propose possible pathways for the future development of PIBs toward practical applications. The strategies and perspectives summarized in this review aim to provide practical guidance for an increasing number of researchers to explore next-generation and high-performance PIBs, and the methodology may also be applicable to developing other energy storage systems.

scholarly journals Security on Plastics: Fake or Real?

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Nele Mentens ◽  
Jan Genoe ◽  
Thomas Vandenabeele ◽  
Lynn Verschueren ◽  
Dirk Smets ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Flexible Electronics ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Electronic Devices ◽  
Digital Circuit ◽  
Secret Key ◽  
Main Research ◽  
Plastic Foil ◽  
Non Volatile Memory ◽  
Wire Cutting ◽  
Near Future

Electronic devices on plastic foil, also referred to as flexible electronics, are making their way into mainstream applications. In the near future, flexible electronic labels can be embedded in smart blisters, but also used as mainstream technology for flexible medical patches. A key technology for flexible electronics is based on thin-film transistors, which have the potential to be manufactured at low cost, making them an ideal candidate for these applications. Yet, up to now, no-one is taking digital security into account in the design of flexible electronics.In this paper, we present, to our knowledge, the first cryptographic core on plastic foil. Two main research challenges arise. The first challenge is related to the reliability of the circuit, which typically decreases when the circuit area increases. By integrating cryptographic modules, we explore the limits of the technology, since the smallest lightweight block ciphers feature a larger area than the largest digital circuit on flex foil reported up to now. The second challenge is related to key hiding. The relatively large features on the chip and the fact that electronic chips on plastics are used as bare dies, i.e. they are not packaged, make it easy to read out the value of the stored secret key. Because there is no dedicated non-volatile memory technology yet, existing methods for writing data to the flexible chip after fabrication are based on wire cutting with a laser or inkjet printing. With these techniques, however, it is extremely easy to “see” the value of the secret key under a microscope. We propose a novel solution that allows us to invisibly program the key after fabrication.

Research on Printed Conductive Silver Layer based on Inkjet Photo Paper

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi Fang ◽  
Lixin Mo ◽  
Zhiqing Xin ◽  
Yinjie Chen ◽  
Xiu Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Performance ◽  
Laser Scanning ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Flexible Substrate ◽  
Electronic Devices ◽  
Laser Scanning Microscopy ◽  
Silver Layer ◽  
Confocal Laser ◽  
Nano Silver ◽  
Silver Ink

Printed electronics is an emerging technology that applies traditional printing or coating processes to the manufacture of electronic devices and products. In order to find a low-cost, high-performance, environmentally-friendly flexible substrate suitable for electronic devices, the printability between four kinds of inkjet photo papers and nano-silver ink was investigated. First, different surface morphologies of the inkjet photo papers were measured by a confocal laser scanning microscopy. Then, a pen and a gravure printer were used to test the printability between photo papers and nano-silver ink. It was found that the conductive track and pattern was influenced by the surface morphology of the photo papers. Furthermore, a four-probe test showed that the conductivity of the ink layers on the four photo papers was almost at the same level. Furthermore, a tearing test with 3 M tapes showed that the silk photo paper had the best tearing resistance. In general, silk photo paper has the best overall performance. This research could be beneficial for the development of flexible electronic devices which are low-cost, mass manufacture suitable and environment friendly.

Medium Band-Gap Non-fullerene Acceptors Based on Benzothiophene Donor Moiety Enabling High-Performance Indoor Organic Photovoltaics

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaojun Li ◽  
Siwei Luo ◽  
huiliang sun ◽  
Tao Liu ◽  
Herman H-Y. Sung ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Band Gap ◽  
Organic Photovoltaics ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Electronic Devices ◽  
Organic Photovoltaic ◽  
Design Strategies ◽  
Medium Band ◽  
Donor Moiety

Organic photovoltaic (OPV) is one of the most promising technologies to power indoor electronic devices. However, the limited types and design strategies of medium band-gap acceptor materials hinder the development...

Flexible Electronic Devices From Hot Embossing Materials Transfer

2005 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashante’ Allen ◽  
Andrew Cannon ◽  
William King ◽  
Samuel Graham
Keyword(s):  
Flexible Electronics ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Electronic Devices ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Transfer Printing ◽  
Flexible Devices ◽  
Planar Surfaces ◽  
Flexible Electronic ◽  
Semiconductor Nanomaterials ◽  
Flexible Electronic Devices

The development of processing methods for flexible electronic devices is seen as an enabling technology for the creation of a new array of semiconductor products. These devices have the potential be low cost, disposable, and can be applied to deformable or non-planar surfaces. While much effort has been put into the development of amorphous silicon and organic semiconductor technology for flexible devices, semiconductor nanomaterials are of interest due to their inherently flexibility, high transport mobilities, and their unique optoelectronic and piezoelectric properties. However, the synthesis of these materials directly onto polymer substrates is not feasible due to the high temperatures or harsh chemical environments under which they are synthesized. This challenge has limited the development of flexible electronics with semiconductor nanomaterial building blocks. A number of techniques which address the manufacturing concerns include solution based processing [1,2] as well as dry transfer techniques [3–5]. In general, dry transfer printing methods carry advantages over solution based processing as the need to address substrate-fluid compatibility is mitigated.

scholarly journals Advanced Flexible Skin-Like Pressure and Strain Sensors for Human Health Monitoring

Micromachines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 695
Author(s):  
Xu Liu ◽  
Yuan Wei ◽  
Yuanying Qiu
Keyword(s):  
Human Body ◽  
Health Monitoring ◽  
Pressure Sensors ◽  
Strain Sensors ◽  
Gauge Factor ◽  
Design Strategies ◽  
Detection Range ◽  
Flexible Sensors ◽  
Flexible Skin ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities

Recently, owing to their excellent flexibility and adaptability, skin-like pressure and strain sensors integrated with the human body have the potential for great prospects in healthcare. This review mainly focuses on the representative advances of the flexible pressure and strain sensors for health monitoring in recent years. The review consists of five sections. Firstly, we give a brief introduction of flexible skin-like sensors and their primary demands, and we comprehensively outline the two categories of design strategies for flexible sensors. Secondly, combining the typical sensor structures and their applications in human body monitoring, we summarize the recent development of flexible pressure sensors based on perceptual mechanism, the sensing component, elastic substrate, sensitivity and detection range. Thirdly, the main structure principles and performance characteristic parameters of noteworthy flexible strain sensors are summed up, namely the sensing mechanism, sensitive element, substrate, gauge factor, stretchability, and representative applications for human monitoring. Furthermore, the representations of flexible sensors with the favorable biocompatibility and self-driven properties are introduced. Finally, in conclusion, besides continuously researching how to enhance the flexibility and sensitivity of flexible sensors, their biocompatibility, versatility and durability should also be given sufficient attention, especially for implantable bioelectronics. In addition, the discussion emphasizes the challenges and opportunities of the above highlighted characteristics of novel flexible skin-like sensors.

scholarly journals Batch Transfer Printing of Small-Size Silicon Nano-Films with Flat Stamp

Micromachines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 1255
Author(s):  
Wenping Cao ◽  
Guochang Liu ◽  
Jinwei Miao ◽  
Guojun Zhang ◽  
Jiangong Cui ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Flexible Electronics ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Electronic Devices ◽  
Cmos Process ◽  
Curing Agent ◽  
Intermolecular Force ◽  
Transfer Printing ◽  
Flexible Sensors ◽  
Line Widths ◽  
Printing Processes

Silicon nano-film is essential for the rapidly developing fields of nanoscience and flexible electronics, due to its compatibility with the CMOS process. Viscoelastic PDMS material can adhere to Si, SiO2, and other materials via intermolecular force and play a key role in flexible electronic devices. Researchers have studied many methods of transfer printing silicon nano-films based on PDMS stamps with pyramid microstructures. However, only large-scale transfer printing processes of silicon nano-films with line widths above 20 μm have been reported, mainly because the distribution of pyramid microstructures proposes a request on the size of silicon nano-films. In this paper, The PDMS base to the curing agent ratio affects the adhesion to silicon and enables the transfer, without the need for secondary alignment photolithography, and a flat stamp has been used during the transfer printing, with no requirement for the attaching pressure and detaching speed. Transfer printing of 20 μm wide structures has been realized, while the success rate is 99.3%. The progress is promising in the development of miniature flexible sensors, especially flexible hydrophone.

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