The printing of electronic devices offers a cost-effective, flexible, and environmentally sustainable solution for creating lightweight, low-power electronic devices with applications ranging from consumer electronics to healthcare and beyond. Current methods of printing electronic devices, however, are limited by the contradictory requirements of printability (i.e can an ink be made that can flow in the correct way) and functionality (i.e. can enough solid material be put in the ink for the device to work). One way of addressing this issue is by using two or more reactive inks that form the required material after the printing process is (largely) complete. Due to the potentially high printing speed, there has been a lot of recent interest in the use of aerosol sprays of reactive materials, with the two or more sprays being mixed at the point of deposition.
This project aims to develop a printer that works on this principle, and to characterise both the printing process and produced electronic items.
NOTE: Due to leave, the supervisor in the second semester will be Dr. Stephen Kavermann.
Undergraduate
None
No lab has been assigned to this project