Screen printed piezoelectric polyvinylidene fluoride?trifluoro ethylene (PVDF?TrFE)-based sensors laminated between glass panes in the temperature range 80?110?°C are presented. No degradation of the piezoelectric signals is observed for the sensors laminated at 110?°C, despite approaching the Curie temperature of the piezoelectric material. The piezoelectric sensors, here monitoring force impact in smart glass applications, are characterized by using a calibrated impact hammer system and standardized impact situations. Stand-alone piezoelectric sensors and piezoelectric sensors integrated on poly(methyl methacrylate) are also evaluated. The piezoelectric constants obtained from the measurements of the nonintegrated piezoelectric sensors are in good agreement with the literature. The piezoelectric sensor response is measured by using either physical electrical contacts between the piezoelectric sensors and the readout electronics, or wirelessly via both noncontact capacitive coupling and Bluetooth low-energy radio link. The developed sensor concept is finally demonstrated in smart window prototypes, in which integrated piezoelectric sensors are used to detect break-in attempts. Additionally, each prototype includes an electrochromic film to control the light transmittance of the window, a screen printed electrochromic display for status indications and wireless communication with an external server, and a holistic approach of hybrid printed electronic systems targeting smart multifunctional glass applications.
A flexible, electrochromic, active matrix addressed display (AMAD) is demonstrated. The monolithically integrated AMAD, which contains a 3 × 3 array of organic electrochromic smart pixels (OESPs), is manufactured on a plastic substrate solely using screen printing. Each OESP is based on the combination of one organic electrochromic display (OECD) and one organic electrochemical transistor (OECT), where both devices are screen printed into multilayered vertical architectures. The conduction state of the OECT enables control of the color state of its corresponding OECD, thereby circumventing cross-talk effects in the resulting AMAD device. The manufacturing approach also involves electrical wires, which connect each OECD with its corresponding OECT and also serve as the addressing lines of the resulting AMAD device, that are formed by screen printing of an ink based on either silver or nanocopper.
The communication outposts of the emerging Internet of Things are embodied by ordinary items, which desirably include all-printed flexible sensors, actuators, displays and akin organic electronic interface devices in combination with silicon-based digital signal processing and communication technologies. However, hybrid integration of smart electronic labels is partly hampered due to a lack of technology that (de)multiplex signals between silicon chips and printed electronic devices. Here, we report all-printed 4-to-7 decoders and seven-bit shift registers, including over 100 organic electrochemical transistors each, thus minimizing the number of terminals required to drive monolithically integrated all-printed electrochromic displays. These relatively advanced circuits are enabled by a reduction of the transistor footprint, an effort which includes several further developments of materials and screen printing processes. Our findings demonstrate that digital circuits based on organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) provide a unique bridge between all-printed organic electronics (OEs) and low-cost silicon chip technology for Internet of Things applications. © 2019, The Author(s).
Here, we report all-screen printed display driver circuits, based on organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs), and their monolithic integration with organic electrochromic displays (OECDs). Both OECTs and OECDs operate at low voltages and have similar device architectures, and, notably, they rely on the very same electroactive material as well as on the same electrochemical switching mechanism. This then allows us to manufacture OECT-OECD circuits in a concurrent manufacturing process entirely based on screen printing methods. By taking advantage of the high current throughput capability of OECTs, we further demonstrate their ability to control the light emission in traditional light-emitting diodes (LEDs), where the actual LED addressing is achieved by an OECT-based decoder circuit. The possibility to monolithically integrate all-screen printed OECTs and OECDs on flexible plastic foils paves the way for distributed smart sensor labels and similar Internet of Things applications.
High-throughput production methods such as screen printing can bring stretchable electronics out of the lab into the market. Most stretchable conductor inks for screen printing are based on silver nanoparticles or flakes due to their favorable performance-to-cost ratio, but silver is prone to tarnishing and corrosion, thereby limiting the stability of such conductors. Here, we report on a cost-efficient and scalable approach to resolve this issue by developing screen printable inks based on silver flakes chemically coated by a thin layer of gold. The printed stretchable AgAu conductors reach a conductivity of 8500 S cm-1, remain conductive up to 250% strain, show excellent corrosion and tarnishing stability, and are used to demonstrate wearable LED and NFC circuits. The reported approach is attractive for smart clothing, as the long-term functionality of such devices is expected in a variety of environments. © 2023 The Authors.
The increasing complexity of electronics in systems used in safety critical applications, such as for example self-driving vehicles requires new methods to assure the hardware reliability of the electronic assemblies. Prognostics and Health Management (PHM) that uses a combination of data-driven and Physics-of-Failure models is a promising approach to avoid unexpected failures in the field. However, to enable PHM based partly on Physics-of-Failure models, sensor data that measures the relevant environment loads to which the electronics is subjected during its mission life are required. In this work, the feasibility to manufacture and use integrated sensors in the inner layers of a printed circuit board (PCB) as mission load indicators measuring impacts and vibrations has been investigated. A four-layered PCB was designed in which piezoelectric sensors based on polyvinylidenefluoride-co-trifluoroethylene (PVDF-TrFE) were printed on one of the laminate layers before the lamination process. Manufacturing of the PCB was followed by the assembly of components consisting of BGAs and QFN packages in a standard production reflow soldering process. Tests to ensure that the functionality of the sensor material was unaffected by the soldering process were performed. Results showed a yield of approximately 30 % of the sensors after the reflow soldering process. The yield was also dependent on sensor placement and possibly shape. Optimization of the sensor design and placement is expected to bring the yield to 50 % or better. The sensors responded as expected to impact tests. Delamination areas were present in the test PCBs, which requires further investigation. The delamination does not seem to be due to the presence of embedded sensors alone but rather the result of a combination of several factors. The conclusion of this work is that it is feasible to embed piezoelectric sensors in the layers of a PCB.
The increasing complexity of electronics in systems used in safety critical applications, such as self-driving vehicles, requires new methods to assure the hardware reliability of the electronic assemblies. Prognostics and health management (PHM) that uses a combination of data-driven and physics-of-failure models is a promising approach to avoid unexpected failures in the field. However, to enable PHM based partly on physics-of-failure models, sensor data that measure the relevant environment loads to which the electronics are subjected during its mission life are required. In this work, the feasibility to manufacture and use integrated sensors in the inner layers of a printed circuit board (PCB) as mission load indicators measuring impacts and vibrations has been investigated. A four-layered PCB was designed in which piezoelectric sensors based on polyvinylidenefluoride-co-trifluoroethylene (PVDF-TrFE) were printed on one of the laminate layers before the lamination process. Manufacturing of the PCB was followed by the assembly of components consisting of ball grid arrays (BGAs) and quad flat no-leads (QFN) packages in a standard production reflow soldering process. Tests to ensure that the functionality of the sensor material was unaffected by the soldering process were performed. Results showed a yield of approximately 30% of the sensors after the reflow soldering process. The yield was also dependent on sensor placement and possibly shape. Optimization of the sensor design and placement is expected to bring the yield to 50% or better. The sensors responded as expected to impact tests. Delamination areas were present in the test PCBs, which requires further investigation. The delamination does not seem to be due to the presence of embedded sensors alone but rather the result of a combination of several factors. The conclusion of this work is that it is feasible to embed piezoelectric sensors in the layers of a PCB.
Clean, sustainable electrical energy could be the next greatest challenge and opportunity of mankind. While the creation of clean energy has been proven, the storage of such energy requires much more research and development. Battery and energy storage technology today relies heavily on rare metals which cannot support large production needs of society. Therefore, the need for energy storage technology to be created sustainably is of great importance. Recently, conductive polymers, a class of organic materials, have shown impressive results in energy storage but requires further development if this technology is to be implemented in various energy storage applications. Here, we report a new ‘on demand’ design for supercapacitors that allows for individual devices in addition to devices in parallel and in series to increase the capacitance and voltage, respectively. The individual device showed impressive capacity up to 10 F while increasing the area with the large parallel device increased the capacitance to a record 127.8 F (332.8 mF/cm2). The ‘on demand’ design also allows paper supercapacitors to be in series to increase the operating voltage with an example device showing good charging behavior up to 5 V when 4 individual paper supercapacitors were arranged in series. Finally, the paper supercapacitors were incorporated into a prototype titled: ‘Norrkoping Starry Night’ which bridges the gap between art and science. An all-printed electrochromic display showing the city of Norrkoping, Sweden, complete with a touch sensor as an on/off switch and silicon solar cells to charge the paper supercapacitors is presented to bring several printed technologies together, highlighting the possibilities of the new paper supercapacitors within this report. © 2022
The transition to a sustainable society is driving the development of green electronic solutions designed to have a minimal environmental impact. One promising route to achieve this goal is to construct electronics from biobased materials like cellulose, which is carbon neutral, non‐toxic, and recyclable. This is especially true for internet‐of‐things devices, which are rapidly growing in number and are becoming embedded in every aspect of our lives. Here, paper‐based sensor circuits are demonstrated, which use triboelectric pressure sensors to help elderly people communicate with the digital world using an interface in the form of an electronic “book”, which is more intuitive to them. The sensors are manufactured by screen printing onto flexible paper substrates, using in‐house developed cellulose‐based inks with non‐hazardous solvents. The triboelectric sensor signal, generated by the contact between a finger and chemically modified cellulose, can reach several volts, which can be registered by a portable microcontroller card and transmitted by Bluetooth to any device with an internet connection. Apart from the microcontroller (which can be easily removed), the whole system can be recycled at the end of life. A triboelectric touch interface, manufactured using printed electronics on flexible paper substrates, using cellulose‐based functional inks is demonstrated. These metal‐free green electronics circuits are implemented in an “electronic book” demonstrator, equipped with wireless communication that can control remote devices, as a step toward sustainable and recyclable internet‐of‐things devices.
Organic electrochemical transistors formed by in operando electropolymerization of the semiconducting channel are increasingly becoming recognized as a simple and effective implementation of synapses in neuromorphic hardware. However, very few studies have reported the requirements that must be met to ensure that the polymer spreads along the substrate to form a functional conducting channel. The nature of the interface between the substrate and various monomer precursors of conducting polymers through molecular dynamics simulations is investigated, showing that monomer adsorption to the substrate produces an increase in the effective monomer concentration at the surface. By evaluating combinatorial couples of monomers baring various sidechains with differently functionalized substrates, it is shown that the interactions between the substrate and the monomer precursor control the lateral growth of a polymer film along an inert substrate. This effect has implications for fabricating synaptic systems on inexpensive, flexible substrates. © 2022 The Authors.
This paper presents the first successful implementation of fully printed electronics for flexible and wearable smart multi-pad stimulation electrodes intended for use in medical, sports and lifestyle applications. The smart multi-pad electrodes with the electronic circuits based on organic electrochemical transistor (OECT)-based electronic circuits comprising the 3–8 decoder for active pad selection and high current throughput transistors for switching were produced by multi-layer screen printing. Devices with different architectures of switching transistors were tested in relevant conditions for electrical stimulation applications. An automated testbed with a configurable stimulation source and an adjustable human model equivalent circuit was developed for this purpose. Three of the proposed architectures successfully routed electrical currents of up to 15 mA at an output voltage of 30 V, while one was reliably performing even at 40 V. The presented results demonstrate feasibility of the concept in a range of conditions relevant to several applications of electrical stimulation. © 2022 by the authors
Porous carbon materials are common materials used for sensor and absorbent applications. A novel approach for functionalizing porous carbons through the impregnation of porous carbon black with benzoxazine monomers, followed by thermal polymerization is introduced herein. The method not only establishes a new avenue for the functionalization of porous carbons but also endows the resulting material with both copper ion-binding and sensing properties. We showcase the versatility of the technique by illustrating that the polymerization of phenols with benzoxazine monomers serves as an extra tool to customize absorption- and sensing properties. Experimental validation involved testing the method on carbon black as a porous substrate, which was impregnated with both bisphenol-a benzoxazine and a combination of bisphenol-a benzoxazine and alizarin. The resulting materials were assessed for their dual functionality as both an absorbent and a sensor for copper ions by varied copper ion concentrations and exposure times. The dye absorption test demonstrated a notable capacity to accumulate copper ions from dilute solutions. Electrochemical characterization further confirmed the effectiveness of the modified carbons, as electrodes produced from inks were successful in detecting copper ions accumulated from 50 μM Cu2+ solutions. With this work, we aspire to set the steppingstone towards a facile functionalization of porous carbon materials towards water purification applications. © 2024 The Authors
The potential of the screen printing method for large-scale production of organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs), combining high production yield with low cost, is here demonstrated. Fully screen-printed OECTs of 1 mm2 area, based on poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) doped with poly(styrensulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS), have been manufactured on flexible polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrates. The goal of this project effort has been to explore and develop the printing processing to enable high yield and stable transistor parameters, targeting miniaturized digital OECT circuits for large-scale integration (LSI). Of the 760 OECTs manufactured in one batch on a PET sheet, only two devices were found malfunctioning, thus achieving an overall manufacturing yield of 99.7%. A drain current ON/OFF ratio at least equal to 400 was applied as the strict exclusion principle for the yield, motivated by proper operation in LSI circuits. This consistent performance of low-footprint OECTs allows for the integration of PEDOT:PSS-based OECTs into complex logic circuits operating at high stability and accuracy. © 2020, The Author(s).
Organic electronic circuits based on organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) are attracting great attention due to their printability, flexibility, and low voltage operation. Inverters are the building blocks of digital logic circuits (e.g., NAND gates) and analog circuits (e.g., amplifiers). However, utilizing OECTs in electronic logic circuits is challenging due to the resulting low voltage gain and low output voltage levels. Hence, inverters capable of operating at relatively low supply voltages, yet offering high voltage gain and larger output voltage windows than the respective input voltage window are desired. Herein, inverters realized from poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):polystyrene sulfonate-based OECTs are designed and explored, resulting in logic inverters exhibiting high voltage gains, enlarged output voltage windows, and tunable switching points. The inverter designs are based on multiple screen-printed OECTs and a resistor ladder, where one OECT is the driving transistor while one or two additional OECTs are used as variable resistors in the resistor ladder. The inverters’ performances are investigated in terms of voltage gain, output voltage levels, and switching point. Inverters, operating at +/−2.5 V supply voltage and an input voltage window of 1 V, that can achieve an output voltage window with ∼110% increment and a voltage gain up to 42 are demonstrated. © 2022 The Authors.
Low-voltage operating organic electronic circuits with long-term stability characteristics are receiving increasing attention because of the growing demands for power efficient electronics in Internet of Things applications. To realize such circuits, inverters, the fundamental constituents of many circuits, with stable transfer characteristics should be designed to provide low-power consumption. Here, a rational inverter design, based on fully screen printed p-type organic electrochemical transistors with a channel size of 150 × 80 µm2, is explored for driving conditions with input voltage levels that differs of about 1 V. Further, three different inverter circuits are explored, including resistor ladders with resistor values ranging from tens of kΩ to a few MΩ. The performance of single inverters, 3-stage cascaded inverters and 3-stage ring oscillators are characterized with respect to output voltage levels, propagation delay, static power consumption, voltage gain, and operational frequency window. Depending on the application, the key performance parameters of the inverter can be optimized by the specific combination of the input voltage levels and the resistor ladder values. A few of the inverters are in fact fully functional up to 30 Hz, even when using input voltage levels as low as (0 V, 1 V). © 2021 The Authors.