Atomized spraying of liquid metal droplets on desired substrate surfaces as a generalized way for ubiquitous printed electronics

A direct electronics printing technique through atomized spraying for patterning room temperature liquid metal droplets on desired substrate surfaces is proposed and experimentally demonstrated for the first time. This method has generalized purpose and is highly flexible and capable of fabricating electronic components on any desired target objects, with either flat or rough surfaces, made of different materials, or different orientations from 1-D to 3-D geometrical configurations. With a pre-designed mask, the liquid metal ink can be directly deposited on the substrate to form various specific patterns which lead to the rapid prototyping of electronic devices. Further, extended printing strategies were also suggested to illustrate the adaptability of the method such that the natural porous structure can be adopted to offer an alternative way of making transparent conductive film with an optical transmittance of 47% and a sheet resistance of 5.167Ω/O. Different from the former direct writing technology where large surface tension and poor adhesion between the liquid metal and the substrate often impede the flexible printing process, the liquid metal here no longer needs to be pre-oxidized to guarantee its applicability on target substrates. One critical mechanism was found as that the atomized liquid metal microdroplets can be quickly oxidized in the air due to its large specific surface area, resulting in a significant increase of the adhesive capacity and thus firm deposition of the ink to the substrate. This study established a generalized way for pervasively and directly printing electronics on various substrates which are expected to be significant in a wide spectrum of electrical engineering areas.