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Printed flexible thin-film transistors based on different types of modified liquid metal with good mobility

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Abstract

High-performance logic circuits fabricated on flexible or unconventional substrates have become a necessity for several new applications. Generally, compared to those fabricated on more rigid substrates, printed, large-area, and flexible thin film transistors (TFTs) are prone to under-performance, which severely limits their practical value. The realization of printed flexible macroelectronics requires advancements in material science and novel fabricating techniques. In this study, using a fast printing process, we manufacture liquid metal-carbon nanotube TFTs on a thin polyethylene terephthalate substrate. These flexible TFTs (p-type) exhibit enhance stability and flexibility, carrier mobility (10.61 cm2V−1s−1), and transconductance (0.88 µS). Furthermore, we realize dependable n-type and ambipolar transistors based on liquid metals with charge transport efficiencies that are comparable to our p-type counterparts, thus providing a foundation for manufacturing integrated circuits and complementary logic gates on flexible substrates. This study shows the positive progress of liquid metal printing-enabled functional devices and discusses the possibility of practical applications; moreover, it sets the foundation for printed high-performance and large-area flexible liquid metal electronics.

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Acknowledgements

This work was partially supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China Key Project (Grant No. 91748206), Dean’s Research Funding and the Frontier Project of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Qian LI acknowledges the support by China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant No. 2018M641485). The authors are grateful for the support of Beijing DREAM Ink Technologies Co., Ltd.

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Author notes

  1. Li Q and Lin J have the same contribution to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Beijing Key Lab of Cryo-Biomedical Engineering and Key Lab of Cryogenics, Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China

    Qian Li, Tianying Liu & Jing Liu

  2. Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Medicine, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China

    Ju Lin & Jing Liu

  3. School of Engineering Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China

    Tianying Liu

  4. Beijing DREAM Ink Technologies Co., Ltd., Beijing, 100080, China

    Han Zheng

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  1. Qian Li
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Correspondence to Jing Liu.

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S1–S8, Tables S1 and S2. The supporting information is available online at info.scichina.com and link.springer.com. The supporting materials are published as submitted, without typesetting or editing. The responsibility for scientific accuracy and content remains entirely with the authors.

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Li, Q., Lin, J., Liu, T. et al. Printed flexible thin-film transistors based on different types of modified liquid metal with good mobility. Sci. China Inf. Sci. 62, 202403 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11432-019-9918-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11432-019-9918-4

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