A React-on-Demand (RoD) Process for Printed Electronics

Frequency Selective Surfaces/Structures (FSSs) have great potential to be a mean for improving the capability of communication with Radio Frequency (RF) signals. Although the printed circuit board (PCB) technique is widely available for fabricating FSS, it is difficult to implement using flexible substrates. Its routine process is tedious, costly and environmentally harmful. Other emerging techniques using nano-particle inks also inherently involve large challenges, such as pre- and post-processing, dispersion, agglomeration, and final cost. Aiming to solve these limitations, a printed-electronics-solution building upon a react-on-demand (RoD) inkjet printing technology is proposed for printing high-performance FSS. The proposed method in this project offers a unique approach to fabricate FSSs through on-site synthesis of highly conductive silver polymer structures. This method not only can overcome the limitation sof existing fabrication methods, but also provides a flexible method for preparing multifunctional FSS from 2D, 2.5D to 3D as demanded.

Faculty Supervisor:

Zhifeng Ding

Student:

Dongxing Zhang

Partner:

Formi 3DP Inc

Discipline:

Engineering - other

Sector:

Advanced manufacturing

University:

Program: