Breakthrough in carbon nanotube patterning聽
ACS: Applied Materials and Interfaces has published research by the 扣扣传媒鈥檚 Dr Simon King that reports on a faster and more energy efficient method of patterning carbon nanotubes for specific devices.
Dr King has found a way to precisely pattern and 'grow' microscopic CNTs (right) via inkjet printing
鈥淐arbon nanotubes, or CNTs as they鈥檙e known, are very small cylindrical graphitic carbon structures, which are now seeing use in metal-free, lightweight and flexible electrical devices,鈥 says Dr King, who鈥檚 a Research Fellow at 扣扣传媒鈥檚 Advanced Technology Institute (ATI). 鈥淏ut the problem CNTs have is they need to go through quite energy-intensive and time-consuming processes to pattern them and make them usable for specific applications.
鈥淔or example, in conventional copper electronics you print a circuit on an underlying layer called a substrate. However, with CNTs you鈥檇 normally need a catalyst precursor, which is the seed material the CNTs 鈥榞row鈥 from. Patterning the catalyst typically needs a number of prolonged steps in order to form the CNTs into shapes to make them usable for specific devices; making commercial manufacturing expensive.鈥
Thanks to research conducted by Dr King, building on research previously conducted by Dr Liam McCafferty, these additional post-processing techniques may soon be redundant.
鈥淲hat we鈥檝e done is make a multi-purpose precursor solution that can be used to 鈥榞row鈥 CNTs directly in place, in any pattern, for any device,鈥 continues Dr King. 鈥淚n the paper we鈥檝e just published in , we demonstrate the solution using inkjet printing, spray painting, stamping and handwriting.
鈥淪o, instead of companies being forced to pattern CNTs using the conventional slow and energy-intensive methods, they can now use this novel precursor as an ink, and inkjet print the solution to precisely grow CNT structures for devices on a commercial scale.鈥
This breakthrough could have long-term impact in a number of large-scale manufacturing industries.
Dr King adds: 鈥淥rganic electronics will probably be the area of its biggest application because everyone鈥檚 moving away from metal in manufacturing electrical devices. For example, in computing we use interconnects, which are tiny metal pins on the back of processing chips. So how we make these can change.
鈥淲e also live on a carbon-rich planet, so if we swap the use of mined metals in electronics for using CNTs, the impact could be huge.
鈥淭o summarise, using our universal precursor means you can manufacture faster, it鈥檚 less energy intensive and it's moving away from metals into carbons.鈥
Professor Ravi Silva, Director of 扣扣传媒鈥檚 Advanced Technology Institute, said: 鈥漈he work presented by Simon in this paper is underlined by over two decades of research in nanocarbon materials.
鈥淚t will open a whole new area in wearable and future Internet-of-Things-type technologies that need new solutions for unique problems.鈥
Find out more on the Advanced Technology Institute and its research.
