Abstract
Here, we report guided orientation of silver nanowires (AgNWs) in extruded patterns with photo-curable 3D printing technology. A printable conductive composite material composed of polymer matrix and silver nanowires shows significantly varied electrical properties depending on the cross-sectional shape of printing nozzles: flat or circular. The composite is designed to have highly conductive AgNWs and a dielectric polymer matrix like photo-curable methacrylate resin. The dielectric permittivity of photo-curable composite resin with 1.6 vol. % of AgNWs printed through a circular nozzle showed 27. However, the same resin showed much lower permittivity with 20 when it is printed with a flat nozzle. The cross-sectional sample morphology shows that AgNWs printed with a circular nozzle are aligned, and AgNWs printed with a flat nozzle are randomly distributed. A computational simulation of paste extrusion with two different nozzle shapes showed clearly different fluidic velocities at the nozzle exit, which contributes to different fiber orientation in printed samples. A radio frequency identification sensor is fabricated with 3D printed composite using a flat nozzle for the demonstration of AgNW based 3D printed conductor.
Highlights
Polymer nanocomposites (PNCs) became a promising solution of various applications for their flexibility and processability as well as differentiated mechanical, electrical properties compared with pristine polymers[1]
A PNC with conductive fillers like AgNWs can be conductive if these conductive nanoscale fillers form a conductive path called as a percolated network which enables the electrons travel through the material
Photo-curable 3D printing system has been designed to optimize the printing of a photo-curable nanocomposites composed of photo-curable resin and AgNWs
Summary
Polymer nanocomposites (PNCs) became a promising solution of various applications for their flexibility and processability as well as differentiated mechanical, electrical properties compared with pristine polymers[1]. PNCs with high dielectric permittivity can be applied to flexible and transparent parts of wearable electronic devices[4,5,6]. Various types of PNCs were investigated to prepare a flexible material with high conductivity or high dielectric permittivity[6,7,8]. PNCs with conductive fillers may exhibit better mechanical flexibility as well as improved electrical properties with lower volume fraction of fillers compared to PNCs with ceramic fillers. We chose AgNW as a nanoscale conductive filler to prepare PNCs in order to utilize the high anisotropic character of AgNWs. AgNW is a rod-like anisotropic structure. It is demonstrated that the electrical properties of composite materials can be tunable through nozzle dependent extrusion 3D printing
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