Nonpolar Solvent Modulated Inkjet Printing of Nanoparticle Self‐Assembly Morphologies

Abstract

Patterning of luminescent nanomaterials is critical in the fields of display and information encryption, and inkjet printing technology have shown remarkable significance with the advantage of fast, large‐scalable and integrative. However, inkjet printing nanoparticle deposits with high‐resolution and well controlled morphology from nonpolar solvent droplets is still challenging. Herein, a facile approach of nonpolar solvent modulated inkjet printing of nanoparticles self‐assembly patterns driven by the shrinkage of the droplet and inner solutal convection is proposed. Through regulating the solvent composition and nanoparticle concentration, multicolor light‐emissive upconversion nanoparticle self‐assembly microarrays with tunable morphologies are achieved, showing the integration of designable microscale morphologies and photoluminescences for multimodal anti‐counterfeit. Furthermore, inkjet printing of nanoparticles self‐assembled continuous lines with adjustable morphologies by controlling the coalescence and drying of the ink droplets is achieved. The high resolution of inkjet printing microarrays and continuous lines’ width < 5 and 10 µm is realized, respectively. This nonpolar solvent‐modulated inkjet printing of nanoparticle deposits approach facilitates the patterning and integration of different nanomaterials, and is expected to provide a versatile platform for fabricating advanced devices applied in photonics integration, micro‐LED, and near‐field display.

Stimulus-responsive polymer materials toward multi-mode and multi-level information anti-counterfeiting: recent advances and future challenges

“…By integrating intelligent anti-counterfeiting systems with bio-inspired actuators/robots, information based on sophisticated interactive information encryption techniques can be realized. 105 Moreover, 3D printing (additive manufacturing), 106,107 screen printing, 108 and other process manufacturing technologies 109,110 could be utilized in the synthesis and preparation of SRP-based anti-counterfeiting materials, jointly promoting the research and application of anti-counterfeiting technology.…”

Review of Droplet Printing Technologies for Flexible Electronic Devices: Materials, Control, and Applications

“…Guo et al [ 54 ] used non-polar solvents to regulate inkjet printing technology, achieving inkjet-printed nano-particle self-assembled continuous lines with adjustable morphology, high resolution of printed microarrays, and continuous line widths of <5 μm and 10 μm. Chen [ 55 ] mixed graphene and PDMS to obtain printable inks, with graphene also used to manipulate rheological behavior to meet the requirements of extrusion-based printing, as shown in Figure 3 a. Nelson [ 56 ] designed an embedded droplet printing system using the special properties of yielding stress fluids, achieving highly precise control at microscale for customization of fluid droplet generation and handling, as shown in Figure 3 b.…”

Solution-Processable and Printable Two-Dimensional Transition Metal Dichalcogenide Inks

“…Guo et al realized a high spatial resolution on the order of 10 μm in the printed patterns. 254 It is now a popular tool to demonstrate prototypes of printed films and devices in research laboratories for field-effect transistors (FETs), 37,38,211 memristors, 53,54,255 electronic charge-density-wave (CDW) devices, 256 photodetector, 36,53,257,258 sensors, 59,257 photonics, 259,260 supercapa- citors, 66,261 and catalysis. 262 The two prevalent inkjet printing modes are continuous inkjet (CIJ) and drop-on-demand inkjet (DoD), which differ in whether the flow of ink droplets is continuous or only generated when required.…”

“…Inkjet printing is an additive manufacturing technique in which the ink is deposited only on the desired area with smart maskless patterning and essentially zero material waste. Guo et al realized a high spatial resolution on the order of 10 μm in the printed patterns . It is now a popular tool to demonstrate prototypes of printed films and devices in research laboratories for field-effect transistors (FETs), ,, memristors, ,, electronic charge-density-wave (CDW) devices, photodetector, ,,, sensors, , photonics, , supercapacitors, , and catalysis .…”