Strain sensors on water-soluble cellulose nanofibril paper by polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) stencil lithography

Transient electronics are of great interest in medical implants and environmentally friendly devices. These electronic devices can be partially or fully dissolved in water in a controlled period of time. Herein, we show the fabrication and characterization of silver nanoparticle-based strain sensors on the water-soluble nanofibril paper, a cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) produced flexible film, by stencil lithography. This is the first demonstration of using polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) stencils to pattern metal electrodes on water-soluble substrates. For the large London dispersion force (LDF) between the PDMS stencil and the flexible substrate, the stencil can conformably cover the substrate and prevent metal diffusion into the area under the stencil when metal electrodes are patterned on water-soluble nanofibril papers. PDMS stencil lithography avoids damage to the cellulose nanofibril paper, which conventional photolithography processes lead to, without compromising the resolution in patterning. Our strain sensors have a high sensitivity with a gauge-factor of over 50 in strain testing, which is the highest among reported strain sensors fabricated on water-soluble substrates.

[1]  Huanyu Cheng,et al.  A Physically Transient Form of Silicon Electronics , 2012, Science.

[2]  M. Huth.  Granular metals: From electronic correlations to strain-sensing applications , 2010 .

[3]  Z. Bao,et al.  Organic Thin‐Film Transistors Fabricated on Resorbable Biomaterial Substrates , 2010, Advanced materials.

[4]  John A Rogers,et al.  Materials for Programmed, Functional Transformation in Transient Electronic Systems , 2015, Advanced materials.

[5]  A. Chakraborty,et al.  Fabrication of Au micropatterns on vertical Si sidewalls using flexible PDMS shadow masks , 2010 .

[6]  S. Bauer,et al.  Biocompatible and Biodegradable Materials for Organic Field‐Effect Transistors , 2010 .

[7]  Olfa Kanoun,et al.  Flexible Carbon Nanotube Films for High Performance Strain Sensors , 2014, Sensors.

[8]  Lingyan Wang,et al.  Molecularly mediated thin film assembly of nanoparticles on flexible devices: electrical conductivity versus device strains in different gas/vapor environment. , 2011, ACS nano.

[9]  A. Schwope,et al.  Corrigendum: Worldwide variations in artificial skyglow , 2015, Scientific Reports.

[10]  Yonggang Huang,et al.  Dissolvable Metals for Transient Electronics , 2014 .

[11]  Robert Langer,et al.  A biodegradable and biocompatible gecko-inspired tissue adhesive , 2008, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[12]  M. Nogi,et al.  Chemical Modification of Cellulose Nanofibers for the Production of Highly Thermal Resistant and Optically Transparent Nanopaper for Paper Devices. , 2015, ACS applied materials & interfaces.

[13]  Ashlie Martini,et al.  Cellulose nanomaterials review: structure, properties and nanocomposites. , 2011, Chemical Society reviews.

[14]  Huanyu Cheng,et al.  Dissolution Behaviors and Applications of Silicon Oxides and Nitrides in Transient Electronics , 2014 .

[15]  M. Hsieh,et al.  Electrically conductive lines on cellulose nanopaper for flexible electrical devices. , 2013, Nanoscale.

[16]  Bernard Kippelen,et al.  Recyclable organic solar cells on cellulose nanocrystal substrates , 2013, Scientific Reports.

[17]  John A Rogers,et al.  Water-soluble thin film transistors and circuits based on amorphous indium-gallium-zinc oxide. , 2015, ACS applied materials & interfaces.

[18]  Jaehwan Kim,et al.  Flexible and transparent strain sensor made with silver nanowire–coated cellulose , 2016 .

[19]  Peng Chen,et al.  Strain sensors based on chromium nanoparticle arrays. , 2014, Nanoscale.

[20]  John A Rogers,et al.  Triggered Transience of Metastable Poly(phthalaldehyde) for Transient Electronics , 2014, Advanced materials.

[21]  Huanyu Cheng,et al.  Dissolution chemistry and biocompatibility of silicon- and germanium-based semiconductors for transient electronics. , 2015, ACS applied materials & interfaces.

[22]  B. Kippelen,et al.  Stable low-voltage operation top-gate organic field-effect transistors on cellulose nanocrystal substrates. , 2015, ACS applied materials & interfaces.

[23]  A. Khademhosseini,et al.  A reusable high aspect ratio parylene-C shadow mask technology for diverse micropatterning applications , 2008 .

[24]  Samuel Greengard.  Vanishing electronics , 2013, CACM.

[25]  K. Giannakopoulos,et al.  High strain sensitivity controlled by the surface density of platinum nanoparticles , 2012, Nanotechnology.

[26]  John A. Rogers,et al.  Biodegradable Thin Metal Foils and Spin‐On Glass Materials for Transient Electronics , 2015 .

[27]  K. A. Knauer,et al.  Efficient organic light-emitting diodes fabricated on cellulose nanocrystal substrates , 2014 .

[28]  Jae-Woong Jeong,et al.  Materials and Wireless Microfluidic Systems for Electronics Capable of Chemical Dissolution on Demand , 2015 .

[29]  Yonggang Huang,et al.  Transient, biocompatible electronics and energy harvesters based on ZnO. , 2013, Small.

[30]  Xian Huang,et al.  Materials for Bioresorbable Radio Frequency Electronics , 2013, Advanced materials.

[31]  Jonathan A. Fan,et al.  Materials and Designs for Wireless Epidermal Sensors of Hydration and Strain , 2014 .

[32]  Huanyu Cheng,et al.  Biodegradable elastomers and silicon nanomembranes/nanoribbons for stretchable, transient electronics, and biosensors. , 2015, Nano letters.

[33]  M. Nogi,et al.  Transparent Conductive Nanofiber Paper for Foldable Solar Cells , 2015, Scientific Reports.

[34]  Ping Sheng,et al.  Structural and electrical properties of granular metal films , 1975 .

[35]  Granular electronic systems , 2006, cond-mat/0603522.

[36]  K. Hata,et al.  A stretchable carbon nanotube strain sensor for human-motion detection. , 2011, Nature nanotechnology.