Photonic Sintering of Copper through the Controlled Reduction of Printed CuO Nanocrystals.
The ability to control chemical reactions using ultrafast light exposure has the potential to dramatically advance materials and their processing toward device integration. In this study, we show how intense pulsed light (IPL) can be used to trigger and modulate the chemical transformations of printed copper oxide features into metallic copper. By varying the energy of the IPL, CuO films deposited from nanocrystal inks can be reduced to metallic Cu via a Cu2O intermediate using single light flashes of 2 ms duration. Moreover, the morphological transformation from isolated Cu nanoparticles to fully sintered Cu films can also be controlled by selecting the appropriate light intensity. The control over such transformations enables for the fabrication of sintered Cu electrodes that show excellent electrical and mechanical properties, good environmental stability, and applications in a variety of flexible devices.
CSIRO Manufacturing , Bayview Avenue, Clayton, Victoria 3168, Australia.|Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale Via Marzolo 9, Universita' di Padova , 35131 Padova, Italy.
Francesco
F
Paglia
CSIRO Manufacturing , Bayview Avenue, Clayton, Victoria 3168, Australia.
Doojin
D
Vak
School of Applied Science, RMIT University , Melbourne, Victoria 3000, Australia.
Joel
J
van Embden
CSIRO Manufacturing , Bayview Avenue, Clayton, Victoria 3168, Australia.
Anthony S R
AS
Chesman
Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale Via Marzolo 9, Universita' di Padova , 35131 Padova, Italy.
Alessandro
A
Martucci
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Monash University , Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia.
Jacek J
JJ
Jasieniak
CSIRO Manufacturing , Bayview Avenue, Clayton, Victoria 3168, Australia.
Enrico
E
Della Gaspera
flash annealing; flexible electronics; intense pulsed light; photonic curing; printed electronics