Direct patterning of carbon nanotube aerosols for high-performance flexible electronics - ScienceDirect

Direct patterning of carbon nanotube aerosols for high-performance flexible electronics

Zhenyu Xu David Fox Nan Wei Peng Liu Yuhan Wen Rui Gao Avetik R. Harutyunyan 2 Hua Jiang Qiang Zhang* and Esko I. Kauppinen*

Nano Today, Volume 61, April 2025, 102635

Patterned carbon nanotube electrodes have been widely applied in flexible electronics due to their excellent mechanical and electrical properties. However, conventional patterning methods such as ink-based printing and lithography inevitably diminish their unique intrinsic properties due to necessary post synthesis treatments. In this work, we report a facile high throughput method for fabricating patterned electrodes based on in-situ deposition of pristine aerosolized carbon nanotubes. The resulting patterned electrodes demonstrate exceptionally low sheet resistance of 1.3 Ω∙sq−1 at 90 % transmittance. The electroluminescence devices with color tunability fabricated on corresponding patterned electrodes show remarkable tolerance of large mechanical deformations and extensive cycling. The proposed scalable, binder-free patterning electrode technology based on pristine carbon nanotubes can dramatically enhance the performances of flexible and wearable electronics.

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