I-Corps: Air-Stable and Low-Cost Metal Inks for Wearable Electronics and Sensors

这个I-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是在可穿戴电子产品和传感器市场上的一种新的金属油墨技术的商业化，这种技术在很大程度上依赖于柔性材料上可扩展制造电子电路的可印刷和导电油墨。在当今社会，可穿戴电子产品和传感器在日常生活中得到了越来越多的应用，特别是通过智能手机的无线接口进行人体健康监测和即时诊断。到2020年，可穿戴电子产品和传感器市场预计将达到约520亿美元，市场收入预计将以16%的复合年增长率（CAGR）增长。在这个项目中，客户发现的结果将确定技术的市场机会并开发商业模式，从而导致潜在的创业业务，技术许可，以及重要的是，适合工业合作伙伴的产品原型和评估以及潜在投资者的审查的商业计划。该项目还将培训学生和研究人员，使他们更好地为企业竞争力做准备，并加深他们对追求企业家精神和技术商业化所需条件的理解。这个I-Corps项目的重点是确定一种新的金属纳米墨水技术的商业化可行性，这种技术可以使柔性和可穿戴电子产品和传感器的制造商成为可能。虽然目前银油墨在印刷电子和可穿戴传感器行业占主导地位，但对普通温度敏感的柔性材料的高温处理要求是不够的，而且金属氧化或迁移的倾向会降低印刷电子产品的性能。为了解决高温、高成本、高故障率制造的痛苦，该项目的核心技术是一种空气稳定、低成本的金属油墨配方，具有创新的低温加工能力，可用于在柔性材料上制造可穿戴电子产品和传感器。为了在导电油墨和可穿戴传感器或电子产品的全球市场中具有竞争力，客户发现的关键问题集中在了解目标市场的驱动力，特定于客户细分的价值主张，与制造过程相关的成本分解，采用新技术制造和包装的决策过程，以及制造或产品生态系统中的主要参与者和影响者。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the commercialization of a new metal ink technology in the markets of wearable electronics and sensors which depend heavily on printable and conductive inks in scalable manufacturing of electronic circuits on flexible materials. In today's society wearable electronics and sensors have found increasing applications in daily life, especially for human health monitoring and point-of-care diagnostics via wireless interfaces with smartphones. The market for wearable electronics and sensors is forecast to reach about $52 billion by 2020, with the market revenue being expected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of about 16%. Findings from the customer discovery in this project will identify the market opportunity of the technology and develop the business model, leading to potential start-up business, technology licensing, and importantly, a business plan suitable for the product prototyping and evaluation by industrial partners and review by potential investors. The project will also train students and researchers for their better preparation to be entrepreneurially competitive, and to enhance their understanding of what it takes to pursue the entrepreneurship and the technology commercialization. This I-Corps project focuses on determining the commercialization feasibility of a new metal nanoink technology which can enable manufacturers of flexible and wearable electronics and sensors. While the current use of silver inks has dominated the printable electronics and wearable sensors industries, the high-temperature processing requirement is inadequate for common temperature-sensitive flexible materials and the propensity of metal oxidation or mobility degrades the printed electronics. To address the pain of high-temperature and high-cost manufacturing with a high failure rate, the core technology in this project features an air-stable and low-cost metal ink formulation with an innovative low-temperature processing capability for manufacturing wearable electronics and sensors on flexible materials. To be competitive in the global markets of conductive inks and wearable sensors or electronics, key questions in the customer discovery focus on understanding the driving force for the targeted market, the value proposition specific to customer segments, the cost breakdown related to the manufacturing process, the decision-making process in adopting new technologies for manufacturing and packaging, and the major players and influencers in the manufacturing or product ecosystem.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.