AVS 61st International Symposium & Exhibition
    Manufacturing Science and Technology Thursday Sessions
       Session MS+PS+TF-ThA

Paper MS+PS+TF-ThA3
Patterned Photoreduction of Metal Atoms on Polymeric Substrates for Flexible Electronic Applications

Thursday, November 13, 2014, 3:00 pm, Room 302

Session: Functionalization  of Paper and Textiles & Their Applications
Presenter: Halil Akyildiz, North Carolina State University
Authors: H.I. Akyildiz, North Carolina State University
J.C. Halbur, North Carolina State University
A.T. Roberts, Redstone Arsenal
H.O. Everitt, Duke University
J.S. Jur, North Carolina State University
Correspondent: Click to Email
Flexible electronics are of interest for displays, sensors, and health monitoring systems. Polymeric substrates, being flexible, easy to manufacture and inexpensive, are wanted for such applications. However, polymers, aside from good properties usually require alteration of electronic and optical properties. Sequential vapor infiltration (SVI) is a technique that modifies polymer properties by formation of hybrid materials via infiltration of organometallic precursors into bulk polymers. In this work we present how SVI tailors the optical properties of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) fibers by infiltration of trimethylaluminum (TMA) precursors to form PET-Alumina hybrid structures. Photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy showed an order of magnitude increase in photoluminescence as compared to the pristine PET fibers which is attributed to the increased interactions between polymer chains by formation of alumina polymer coordination complexes. Furthermore metal ions out of a metal salt solution were reduced onto the modified substrates by photo catalytic effect. Patterned silver lines on PET fabric were successfully achieved by selective excitation of the fabric using a laser source showing promising results for integration of electronic devices.