C. Wyatt Shields Iv Elastomeric Particles from Silicone Gels for Acoustophoretic Bioseparations

Abstract: There is an ongoing drive to transform rigid, glass-based flat-panel devices (e.g., displays, solar cells, organic LEDs) into flexible devices on plastic substrates in order to improve flexibility, reduce weight, and reduce cost. The high cost, brittleness and slow coating process (<0.01 m/s) of the standard transparent conducting material, indium tin oxide (ITO), is limiting realization of these goals. This presentation will discuss the replacement of ITO with networks of metal nanowires. Metal nanowires can be produced in scalable, solution-phase syntheses, and can be coated from liquids at high rates (>1 m/s). Nanowire networks can be flexed more than 1000 times with no change in their conductance, can be made from earth-abundant metals (Cu, Ni), can carry high currents (0.5 A/cm2), can be rendered stable against oxidation and have equivalent optoelectronic properties as ITO. Nanowire networks can thus enable the production of low-cost, highly robust flexible electronics. This work is patent pending.