All-Printed Conformal High-Temperature Electronics on Flexible Ceramics

Each year, Cu is used in more than 60% of electrical applications due to its excellent electrical, thermal, and mechanical properties. Here, we report all-printed flexible conformal electronics consisting of Cu nanowire features (>106 S/m) and dielectric substrates. High aspect ratio Cu nanowires enable a conductive percolation network after printing to produce a conductive trace onto a variety of artificial substrates. The electrical conductivity of printed Cu nanowires can be controlled by aqueous-based reaction and printing conditions, while the stability of printed features is shown by Cu/Ni alloying to effectively protect it from oxidation. We demonstrate a reflection coefficient of −60 dB at the resonant frequency of 2.5 GHz using flexible radio-frequency antenna by printing Cu nanowires on flexible ceramics. Such flexible antenna electronics also exhibit high sensitivity (0.05% °C–1) and accuracy (15 °C) for real-time high-temperature sensing. The findings shown here suggest the potential of high-temperature hybrid conformal electronics using all-printed Cu ink and flexible ceramic materials.