In the flexible hybrid electronics (FHE) industry, there exists a need for highly stretchable conductive inks. Unlike traditional silver or carbon-based inks, ELMNT liquid metal inks are uniquely equipped to address this need with exceptional conductive properties at strains up to 800% (substrate dependent). ELMNT inks are used to develop and enable advanced stretchable and wearable electronics such as high-dexterity heated gloves, RF antennas, capacitive sensing devices, biosensing electrodes, wireless power transmission, and cables for power and data transmission of both analog and digital signals.
Although ELMNT inks are well suited for these devices, there are unique challenges associated with the fabrication of liquid metal ink devices which will be discussed including: deposition methods, substrate integration, encapsulation, textile integration, ink activation, and interconnects. These inks are able to be deposited by airbrushing, blade coating, aerosol jet printing, and inkjet printing with feature sizes as low as tens of microns. Deposition is possible onto a variety of substrates including thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPU), thermoplastic elastomers (TPE), and styrene-ethylene-butylene-styrenestyrene (SEBS), as well as other textile-relevant elastomers.
