Inkjet Printed Heating Elements Based on Nanoparticle Silver Ink with Adjustable Temperature Distribution for Flexible Applications

摘要

This article reports on developments in the manufacturing of heating elements bymeans of digital inkjet printing technology. The area coverage of the meanderlines ranges from 34 lpi (lines per inch) to 51 and 102 lpi, which mainly influencesthe temperature distribution and homogeneity. Furthermore, the line width of themeander lines is varied between 250, 500, and 1000 μm. All heating elements aredeposited by single-pass printing of a nanoparticle silver ink with subsequentthermal sintering on a standard flexible polymer film, to demonstrate that inkjetprinting allows the manufacturing of printed thin devices also on low-costmaterial. The implementation of various designs allows the control of thetemperature distribution and heat development. The printed structures areevaluated regarding their optical and electrical characteristics and their thermalperformance is assessed using an infrared camera. This research has succeededin developing bendable printed heaters, which reach homogeneous averagetemperature of 100 °C over an area of approximately 15 cm~2 at a power supply of12 V. The feasibility of the inkjet printed heaters is demonstrated by a long-termtest over several days with negligible fluctuations in the area temperature andhighest stability in the resistance.