Mechanical and Electrical Characterization of Nanocomposites Liquid-Solid Conductive Ink on Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) Substrate

Abstract

With drastic development of wearable electronics have urged the studies on the conductive ink and flexible substrate. Wearable electronics consist of nanocomposites liquid-solid conductive ink and flexible substrate such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET). They were produced by using stencil printing method. This paper presents the mechanical and electrical characteristics of  conductive ink with unloaded condition. The conductive ink was printed with four patterns, which were straight, curve, square and zig-zag patterns. Then, all four patterns were tested for their surface morphology, surface roughness, sheet resistivity and bulk resistivity. Surface morphology showed that conductive ink with 3 mm width had less granular particle formed than conductive ink with 1 mm width. Surface roughness of conductive ink with 3 mm width was smoother compared to 2 mm width and 1 mm width. Sheet resistivity and bulk resistivity results indicated that resistivity of all four patterns decreased with the increase of the conductive ink width. From the result, it showed that conductive ink with straight pattern has the best performance. Meanwhile, individual result for each pattern had its own function inside the circuit track.