Project R-14439

Understanding liquid metal deposition for the production of stretchable electronics from 2D manufacturing, over 3D to continuous processing (Research)

Liquid metal (LM) stretchable electronics retain their conductivity upon stretching, opening doors for novel applications in wearables and soft robotics, where conventional rigid and flexible electronics fail. Due to the challenges associated with patterning and the lack of scalability of patterning techniques, LM has not been adopted as an electrical conductor in commercial applications. In recent literature, a focus lies mainly on the deposition of on-off devices constrained by a single application, whereas future implementation requires the mass production of devices for various applications with an optimized deposition technique. Therefore, a modular LM deposition system that can handle all deposition challenges is investigated. First, a novel large-area deposition technique for 2.5D devices utilizing stencil printing is studied, where the main goal is to rapidly produce reproducible devices. Then, the focus will be shifted to highly versatile direct writing to fabricate 2D, then complex 3D devices, adding difficulty incrementally, but applying previous findings. Finally, all knowledge gained will be used in a final work package that is continuous processing via a roll-to-roll compatible direct writing process. This will lead to a multifunctional deposition system that can be easily upscaled. We state that the research performed in this PhD will give insights into LM stretchable devices that can be used in a broad range of future-proof, soft and stretchable applications.

01 November 2023 - 31 October 2027