Over the years, electronics have evolved to replace simple improvements to daily life and have become almost seamlessly integrated into everyday life. People have become accustomed to wearable electronics, but what about stretchable devices? The demand for this type of technology is growing, but current methods are not easily scalable for mass production to make these devices available to the public. However, mass development could be possible through the roll-to-roll (R2R) process, which prints different layers onto a flexible rolled substrate, eliminating the manual nature of the process. By introducing this type of electronics to the market, the possibility of producing stretchable electronics and even smart packaging may become commonplace.
The researchers published their results in Advanced Materials Technologies on June 9.
Conventional methods can manufacture complex multilayer substrates, but they lack the manufacturing capacity to scale up to large-scale production. This means adapting to the dynamic nature of the technology as demand for newer, more capable electronics increases.
“In this study, we conducted research and development for mass production of stretchable devices based on the R2R production process. These technologies are important for promoting market introduction to further develop the field of stretchable electronics, which is still in the research phase,” said Hiroki Ota, associate professor at Yokohama National University and author of the paper.
The R2R production process is a method for creating multi-layer elastic substrates with different material layers and integrated electronics. This method allows the continuous production of substrates, which contain elastic materials such as hydrogels or silicone, and liquid metal cables. The process also includes a coating step and a step for preparing the material for wiring. The result is a unique material that is flexible, elastic and functional.
Previously, the R2R process was used for newspapers and photography, but it is now being used for the manufacturing of electronic products such as organic solar cells, flexible electronic substrates and solar cells. This technology will serve as the basis for the future large-scale production of stretchable electronic products, which can be wearables, smart packaging or flexible electronic components, and everything in between.
In this study, 15 stretchable devices with light sensing were fabricated and tested for their ability to respond to light levels during stretching. These materials were shown to maintain functionality even when stretched to 70% of the substrate’s maximum value. Additionally, devices equipped with thermistors (tools used to measure the device’s temperature) were found to be accurate when comparing the device’s temperature of each compartment with the actual setpoint temperature.
“The stretchable wiring technology has not been realized by the R2R process technology, and in the future, by connecting the R2R production process technology for wiring and liquid metal substrates, the R2R process can realize the continuous and mass production of the stretchable device itself,” Ota said.
The evolution of R2R process applications has opened up many possibilities for stretchable devices and electronics. So far, R2R processing on elastic materials has achieved consistent precision and performance during stretching. The researchers hope to see further developments in micro-patterning for higher resolution and improving the overall functionality of the process and its results.
Hiroki Kawakami, Kyohei Nagatake, Sijue Ni, Fumika Nakamura, Tamami Takano, Koki Murakami, Ibuki Ohara, Yuji Isano, Ryosuke Matsuda, Hideki Suwa, Ryunosuke Higashi, Takuto Araki, Shingo Ozaki and Hiroki Ota from the University’s Department of Mechanical Engineering Yokohama National University, Moeka Kanto and Kazuhide Ueno of the Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology of Yokohama National University, Masato Saito, Hajime Fujita, Tatsuhiro Horii and Toshinori Fujie of the Department of Life Sciences and Technology of Yokohama National University of Tokyo Technology contributed to this research.
The Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), JST CREST and FOREST, Pioneering Research for Embryonic Science and Technology, and Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research A and B made this research possible.
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