Rapid Laser Printing of Paper-Based Multilayer Circuits.
Laser printing has been widely used in daily life, and the fabricating process is highly efficient and mask-free. Here we propose a laser printing process for the rapid fabrication of paper-based multilayer circuits. It does not require wetting of the paper, which is more competitive in manufacturing paper-based circuits compared to conventional liquid printing process. In the laser printed circuits, silver nanowires (Ag-NWs) are used as conducting material for their excellent electrical and mechanical properties. By repeating the printing process, multilayer three-dimensional (3D) structured circuits can be obtained, which is quite significant for complex circuit applications. In particular, the performance of the printed circuits can be exactly controlled by varying the process parameters including Ag-NW content and laminating temperature, which offers a great opportunity for rapid prototyping of customized products with designed properties. A paper-based high-frequency radio frequency identification (RFID) label with optimized performance is successfully demonstrated. By adjusting the laminating temperature to 180 °C and the top-layer Ag-NW areal density to 0.3 mg cm(-2), the printed RFID antenna can be conjugately matched with the chip, and a big reading range of ∼12.3 cm with about 2.0 cm over that of the commercial etched Al antenna is achieved. This work provides a promising approach for fast and quality-controlled fabrication of multilayer circuits on common paper and may be enlightening for development of paper-based devices.
Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences , No. 29 Zhongguancun East Road, Beijing 100190, P. R. China.
Gui-Wen
GW
Huang
Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences , No. 29 Zhongguancun East Road, Beijing 100190, P. R. China.
Qing-Ping
QP
Feng
Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences , No. 29 Zhongguancun East Road, Beijing 100190, P. R. China.
Hong-Mei
HM
Xiao
Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences , No. 29 Zhongguancun East Road, Beijing 100190, P. R. China.
Na
N
Li
Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences , No. 29 Zhongguancun East Road, Beijing 100190, P. R. China.|College of Aerospace Engineering, Chongqing University , Chongqing 400044, China.
Shao-Yun
SY
Fu
flexible circuit; flexible electronics; laser printing; paper substrate; silver nanowire