Printing of nanostructured films with tailored oxidation state and electronic structure can have far reaching applications in several areas including printable electronics, optoelectronics, solar cells, catalytic conversion, and others. Widely used inkjet/aerosol/screen printing techniques require pre- and postprocessing for enhanced adhesion and tailoring of the chemical state of the thin film. Herein, we demonstrate atmospheric pressure plasma jet printing with unique capability to print and tune in situ the electronic properties and surface morphology of nanomaterials. Plasma printing of copper thin films with tailored oxidation state from an inexpensive copper oxide precursor is demonstrated and characterized using x-ray absorption spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and electrical measurements.
An atmospheric pressure plasma based printer is described as an alternative to conventional techniques including inkjet printing. The approach is demonstrated to be capable of printing various nanomaterials, and adjusting the plasma parameters, carrier gas flows and the physical parameters of the inks or nanomaterial suspensions can optimize the print quality. Raman analysis was used to characterize the oxide materials and carbon nanotubes printed using this technique, revealing high quality prints. The printed carbon nanotubes were used in a gas sensor chip and shown to provide good ammonia detection capability.
The proliferation of electronic devices has made electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding an exponentially growing business. Regulatory requirements change constantly as new technologies continue to emerge. Innovations in materials and new advances in shielding implementation techniques are needed to pass regulatory compliance tests at an affordable cost. Here, we print various EMI shielding materials such as copper, silver and graphene using plasma jet printing. Printing enables shields only a few microns thick capable of high shielding effectiveness. Copper’s EMI shielding performance is primarily contributed by reflection mechanism, as expected and this is known to cause secondary pollution. A Green Index for EMI shielding, given by the ratio of absorption and reflection contributions to shielding, indicates values lower than 0.1 for printed copper films.
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