Multi‐Material Aerosol Jet Printing of Al/Cuo Nanothermites for Versatile Fabrication of Energetic Antennas

In the present study, a nanoscale Al/CuO thermite system is patterned using multi-material aerosol jet printing technology. Morphological analysis of samples manufactured with different configurations reveal strong effect printhead design on microstructure and degree mixing between constituent materials, providing insight fundamental mechanisms inline aerosol-phase during printing. The high-resolution patterning capability leveraged to fabricate both blended thermites antennas containing nanothermite, which exhibit rapid low-energy ignition upon exposure 2.45 GHz free space electromagnetic field, characterized by an delay ≈130 ms energy ≈216 J. Moreover, versatility this approach demonstrated manufacturing compositionally graded samples, establishing as compelling versatile platform for microscale energetic device fabrication broader utility materials. This work shows promise use technique in situ standalone integrated energetics devices.