Stretchable Electronics: Roll-to-Roll Production

Researchers in Japan have made a significant breakthrough in the field of stretchable electronics by developing a roll-to-roll process for mass production. The team at Yokohama National University has successfully enabled the continuous production of patterned and multilayered elastic substrates with liquid metal wiring using this innovative technique.

The demand for stretchable technology is on the rise, but current production methods are not easily scalable for mass production. The roll-to-roll (R2R) process offers a promising solution by allowing various layers to be printed on a flexible rolled substrate, eliminating the manual labor involved in traditional methods.

Conventional methods have limitations in producing complex, multilayered patterned substrates at a high production capacity. However, the R2R process opens up new possibilities for large-scale production of stretchable electronics. This technology has already been successfully applied in the production of microLEDs, sensors, and perovskite solar cells.

The R2R production process involves the use of elastic substrates that are layered with different materials and embedded electronics. This enables the incorporation of elastic materials such as hydrogels or silicone, along with liquid metal wiring. The resulting material is not only flexible and elastic but also highly functional.

In a recent study, researchers produced 15 stretchable devices with light detection capabilities and tested their performance under stretching conditions. These devices demonstrated the ability to maintain functionality even when stretched by up to 70% of the substrate's maximum length.

Devices equipped with thermistors also showed promising results, accurately measuring the temperature of each compartment and matching it with the set temperature. According to Hiroki Ota, associate professor at Yokohama National University, the integration of R2R production technology for liquid metal wiring and substrates could pave the way for continuous and mass production of stretchable devices.